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MCALLEN, Texas - A McAllen resident and nature lover says Green Jay Park is far better for birders than Quinta Mazatlan, a property the City of McAllen has invested in heavily to attract eco-tourists.

Lois Kim lives next to Green Jay Park. She says when she moved there it was liked \u201cwinning the lotto.\u201d\xa0

\xa0\u201cThe birders use an app called eBird. When you go on the app and then you click explore, it shows all the birding hotspots. So south of the freeway, there are three hotspots. One is Quinta Mazatlan. One is this park (Green Jay) and the third one is my Airbnb. So it (Green Jay Park) isalready a hotspot that nobody knows about at the city hall, but all the birders know,\u201d Kim said.

\u201cAnd considering that it's not being promoted, like Quinta Mazatlan, it's got an incredible species list going on. If more people visited (Green Jay Park), they'd be spotting more birds and it would outpace Quinta Mazatlan like this,\u201d Kim said, gesturing a wide gulf through out-stretched arms.

Asked if Green Jay Park has greater potential for attracting eco-tourists than Quinta Mazatlan, Kim said:

\u201cOf course. Quinta Mazatlan has water feature, but it's not natural, it's manmade and they're trying to get it going. This one already has the lake that you just have to fill. So then the birds will naturally come here. It\u2019s surrounded by more wild space so more birds will come here. Every day I'm observing the weather, the sun pattern and the bird pattern. So I can confidently say once you fill that (Lake Concepcion) you will you will get the pelicans, you will get more herons, you will get everything.\u201d\xa0

Here is an audio interview with Kim, taken before McAllen city commissioners voted to change the status of Green Jay Park from \u201cagricultural/open space\u201d to \u201clight industrial.\u201d

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