Valley Nature Center is a 6-acre park and nature preserve in Gibson City Park, Weslaco, Texas. Its focus is environmental education about the natural history of the Lower Rio Grande Valley. The center's activities include a summer camp, weekly programs for all ages, birding trips, natural history classes and lectures. There are programs for individuals, children and adults. There is a native plant nursery with plants for sale, a conservation resource library and a gift shop.

History

Valley Nature Center has been in operation as a non-profit organization since 1984 and a new building was opened in 2014. Formed from a vacant lot, the site now includes a 1 mile trail through a cactus garden,

bog pond A bog pond (german: Moorauge) is a waterbody in the middle of a raised or kettle bog, formerly also in percolating mires (''Durchströmungsmooren''). It is also called a bog pool, bog eye, raised bog kolk, bog kolk or just kolk. Bog ponds owe th ...

s, and butterfly garden.

Fauna

Insects, birds and animals that have been seen include Malachite butterfly and

Melanis pixe ''Melanis pixe'', the red-bordered pixie, is a species in the butterfly family Riodinidae. It was described by Jean Baptiste Boisduval in 1836. Description ''Melanis pixe'' has a wingspan of about . The upperside of the wings is black. The tip ...

butterfly, plain chachalaca, green jays, great kiskadees,

buff-bellied hummingbird The buff-bellied hummingbird (''Amazilia yucatanensis'') is a species of hummingbird in the "emeralds", tribe Trochilini of subfamily Trochilinae. It is found in Belize, Guatemala, Mexico, and the United States.HBW and BirdLife Internation ...

Texas tortoise The Texas tortoise (''Gopherus berlandieri''), is a species of tortoise in the family Testudinidae. The species ''G. berlandieri'' is one of six species of tortoises that are native to North America. Geographic range ''G. berlandieri'' is found ...

, Texas horned lizard, and Eastern Cottontail Rabbit. The park is considered a good site to view

migrating birds Bird migration is the regular seasonal movement, often north and south along a flyway, between breeding and wintering grounds. Many species of bird migrate. Migration carries high costs in predation and mortality, including from hunting by ...

and

butterflies Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the Order (biology), order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The ...

Botanical collection

Botanical collection includes species native to Sabal Palm Grove, Arroyo Colorado

brush A brush is a common tool with bristles, wire or other filaments. It generally consists of a handle or block to which filaments are affixed in either a parallel or perpendicular orientation, depending on the way the brush is to be gripped durin ...

, the Barretal, Coastal Lomas, and the Chihuahuan Thorn forest also known as

Rio Grande The Rio Grande ( and ), known in Mexico as the Río Bravo del Norte or simply the Río Bravo, is one of the principal rivers (along with the Colorado River) in the southwestern United States and in northern Mexico. The length of the Rio G ...

- Falcon thorn woodland.

References

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External links

Valley Nature Center
- official site Nature centers in Texas Museums in Hidalgo County, Texas Education in Hidalgo County, Texas Protected areas of Hidalgo County, Texas Cactus gardens