Avid bird watchers John Odgers and Betty Perez take to the Rio Grande at the Texas-Mexico border near Roma, Texas. (Alicia Wagner Calzada / For The Times)
Perez fears the government’s plan to fence off wide sections of the U.S.-Mexican border will interfere with the wildlife habitat. (Alicia Wagner Calzada / For The Times)
Odgers may be a former Florida banker turned Minuteman, but the border fence being built along the Texas-Mexico border gives him pause: what will happen to the dazzling birds found along its wild banks? (Alicia Wagner Calzada / For The Times)
A green heron makes its home along the Rio Grande. (Alicia Wagner Calzada / For The Times)
A yellow-crowned night heron soars above the Rio Grande at the Texas-Mexico border. (Alicia Wagner Calzada / For The Times)
A spotted sandpiper on wild terrain along the Rio Grande banks. (Alicia Wagner Calzada / For The Times)
An osprey flies off with its prey at the Texas-Mexico border. The raptors were devastated by DDT and other pesticides in the 1960s and are still an endangered species in some areas of the country. (Alicia Wagner Calzada / For The Times)
