San Miguelito Ranch

One of the new places that we visited when we went to Texas earlier this year was the San Miguelito Ranch near Raymondville, TX. The San Miguelito Ranch consists of 591 acres of land in the Rio Grande Valley. It borders the famous King Ranch, which we visited in 2010, on one side. It is in a natural migratory path for numerous species of birds but what is really special about the San Miguelito Ranch is that it is the number one site in the United States to see the ferruginous pygmy-owl. Ferruginous pygmy-owls can be found from Arizona and south Texas down through Mexico, Central America, and into South America. They are separated into several subspecies. They are cavity nesters usually nesting in cavities in trees or cactus but also nesting in man made boxes. This was one of a pair that nested near the dwelling on the range.