Originally from the state of Georgia, Rosemary Higgs lives in Texas for three months every year, during the winter, to work at the World Birding Center in the Upper Rio Grande Valley city of Roma. She considers herself a “Winter Texan.”
“A Winter Texan is someone from other than Texas, where it gets cold,” Higgs says. “We come down here for a certain amount of time during the winter – either from three months to six months, and we live here; this is our second home.”
Higgs says the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service renovated the birding center about 15 years ago, and added an amphitheater. There are all kinds of birds there, from doves, green jays, kiskadees, black-crested titmouse, orange-crowned warbler, vireos and other small songbirds. And people come from all over the world to see them, Higgs says.
“Yesterday, we had a group of visitors from the Massachusetts Audubon Society,” Higgs says.
During the winter, she and her husband live in an RV at Falcon State Park in Roma, which they’ve done for the past three years.
“South Texas looked beautiful; we had never been here before,” Higgs says. “This place is special to me.”
She says the people and the culture there are what make her winters in Texas special.
“They are some of the sweetest, kindest people we’ve ever met,” Higgs says. “Even though we’re only here for three months out of the year, they treat us like family.”
Written by Caroline Covington.