El Cielo Biosphere Preserve

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" width=200 BGCOLOR="#003333" TEXT="#F7F7FF" background="096d4c00dduajq.gif"> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="95" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 46 WIDTH="91"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="46" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="91" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#003333" FACE="Arial" ><B>The Fauna and Flora of Kerr County, Texas</B></FONT>     |     <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Fauna and Flora of Kerr County, Texa"><U>home</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id33.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Texas Checklist"><U>Texas Checklist</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id34.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Lake Livingston Checklist"><U>Lake Livingston Checklist</U></A>   |   <B>El Cielo Biosphere Preserve</B>   |   <A HREF="id36.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Catalogue of Bioacoustics"><U>Catalogue of Bioacoustics</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id37.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Gulf Coast Laboratory"><U>Gulf Coast Laboratory</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id45.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Captive Bird Census"><U>Captive Bird Census</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id88.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="My Aviary"><U>My Aviary</U></A></div> <div> El Cielo Biosphere Preserve</div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="0af78320.gif" border=0 width="120" height="50" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> <B><U>INTRODUCTION</U></B></div> <bR> <div> My Great-grandfather Murdock Cameron was the original pioneer settler of the Chamal Valley del Cielo at Alta Cima in  the 1880s. He owned and farmed 7,000 hectares of what is now the El CIelo Biosphere Preserve in Tamaulipas, Mexico. The El Cielo area contains a highly diverse tropical system, ranging from lowland rivers, through mesic canyons to dwarf pine forest at elevation. The biosphere preserve is best known for the Western Hemisphere's (perhaps the World's) northernmost cloud forest. My grandfather Murdoch Cameron, and grandmother Minerva Cameron, left the area in 1916 for fear of their family's safety during the Mexican Revolution, moving just north of the Texas border into the Rio Grande Valley near Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge, farming there until their deaths in their late 90s. </div> <bR> <div> El Cielo is now a top birders' destination in Mexico, being a few hours south of the border at Brownsville and hosting such species as Ornate Hawk-Eagle, Great Curassow, Bumblebee Hummingbird, Maroon-fronted Parrot and trogons, motmots, parrots and woodcreepers.</div> <bR> <div> More information, including photos of documents relating to their life there can be found on the El Cielo pages of my personal website at <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FF0033" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="http://fly.to/SevenBullsBoy" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://fly.to/SevenBullsBoy"><U>http://fly.to/SevenBullsBoy</U></A></FONT></div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <IMG SRC="0b2d00b0.jpg" border=0 width="720" height="523" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> My grandfather, Murdoch Cameron, with a local boy, a springer spaniel and two hounds, and the jaguar he shot on the family farm at Alta Cima, now El Cielo, in about 1900. Two of the dogs appear to be similar (perhaps the same) dogs as those in the family picture below.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <IMG SRC="0b3a7b50.jpg" border=0 width="679" height="949" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> My great-grandfather, Murdock Cameron (bearded), with family at Alta Cima, also in about 1900. (photo courtesy of Larry Lof, Gorgas Science Foundation, Brownsville, Texas, and Jean-Louis Lacaille Muzquiz of Cd. Mante, Tamaulipas).</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>