Arroyo Colorado World Birding Center is one of nine parks and nature preserves in the Rio Grande Valley collectively known as the World Birding Center. Following the Arroyo Colorado waterway and bordering Hugh Ramsey Nature Park to the east and Harlingen Thicket to the west, the Arroyo Colorado World Birding Center is a quiet, wooded retreat in the heart of Harlingen, offering park-goers world-class birding close to downtown Harlingen, major highways and an international airport.

Working on a multidisciplinary design team led by local architect and design partner Megamorphosis, M2L provided a site master plan, site planning, trail design, softscape design and environmental graphics for signage and wayfinding for this Harlingen World Birding Center location. The simple but environmentally sensitive design integrates a coastal theme for the site’s facilities and grounds. Natural, surfaced trails wind though the undisturbed site, connecting strategic viewing points for bird-watching blinds and scenic overlooks, ideal for showcasing close interaction with native habitat in the sky, land or water. M2L carried the theme forward  by designing a nature-themed picnic pavilion and restroom facility that incorporates play opportunities such as sand pits with larger-than-life egg climbing structures and fossilized animal footprints and skeletons.