2.1 Study Area
Our study was conducted on the East Foundation’s ~61,000 ha San Antonio Viejo (SAV) ranch located in Jim Hogg and Starr counties, ~25 km south of Hebbronville, south Texas. This area is representative of the Tamaulipan/Mezquital Thornscrub ecological region containing unique plants and animal communities within brush covered dunes, grasslands punctuated with clusters of trees, and open woods of mesquite (Prosopsis glandulosa ). Annual rainfall during the study year (2019) for this region was ~30 cm and the mean temperature during the breeding season (March - July) was ~27.8° C (PRISM Climate Group 2019), similar to the 30 year norm for this region (PRISM Climate Group 2019). The SAV supports approximately 70 residential bird species and 45 migratory species (Baumgardt et al., 2019).