South Padre Island

There is something about being oceanside that makes my heart sing. It might be the wonderful salted air that heals, bringing along negative ions, the calls of seagulls, the soft sand underfoot, but something wonderful happens to me when I'm on a beach (actually I get the same feeling on our beach in Ontario - maybe it's just being close to a large expanse of water).

South Padre Island is a rather narrow island. The Gulf side is lined with a beautiful large beach that goes the whole length of the island while the bay side is more of a natural setting perfect for shorebirds and ducks.

In my mind, I thought South Padre Island was a rather primitive beach town kind of place. Was I wrong! It reminded of Miami with big hotels lining up the beaches, numerous restaurants and lots of surf and beachwear stores. The town before SPI is Port Isabel and it's a small town with some bayside properties including some campgrounds but they all look old with very old trailers on them. Too bad as it could be a prime location for camping.

To get to the island we had to cross a very long bridge that crosses the bay. It is a beautiful view.

An Osprey flying alongside the bridge

The bridge to the island

And we're there!

 Our goal was to visit the Turtle Rescue Inc. as Glen really loves turtles. The facilities are on the bay side of the island. There is a really nice store that sells all kinds of souvenirs and eco-friendly products. We then went to the amphitheater where we were shown slides of different turtles that were rescued over the years along with very good information. Did you know that most rescued turtles have plastic pieces in their system? A lot of the rescues are of turtles that were attacked by predators and were missing limbs. If they are missing only one limb they normally can go back to the wild after having been treated. However, one turtle in particular was left with only one front paddle which made it impossible for her to go down to feed or to surface and was constantly swimming in a circle. So an engineer designed an apparatus that could be fastened to her shell and has a long rudder that balances her paddling efforts so she can now go in a straight line and up and down. But she can never be released because this contraption has to grow with her - she's already on her third prosthesis. She's got a large pool and seems content enough.

It was really fascinating to hear all the rescue stories but at the same time sad because a lot of the problems encountered by these lovely creatures is man-made. We've got to clean up our act so our oceans can get cleaned up too which would give the wildlife a chance to live a long and healthy life. Reduce plastic use as much as possible. Learn how you can replace plastic products like bags, straws and cling-wrap with other reusable products (beeswax cloths, cloth bags, reusable thick plastic ziplock bags, stainless steel straws). There are a lot on the market and some you can make yourself at home.

This is the Loggerhead turtle with the prosthesis that acts as a rudder.

Glen inside the information room.

 Behind the amphitheater is a deck from where you can view some birds that populate the bay.

Great Egret

Long-billed Curlew

 You don't go to the island without spending time on the beach! So off we went to find a proper entrance to the beach with parking that was free. It wasn't far from the turtle rescue center. First, we stopped by the bay side.

Sadie went for a walk

White Pelican with Black Skimmers in front

Then we crossed the street to the Gulf side to find a beautiful beach with very few people on it.

Almost deserted beach

Michelle and Sadie

Sanderling

Forsters Tern

Glen and I

Relaxing on the beach

Sadie doing her tiger impression.

We will definitely visit South Padre Island again. We found that there is a birding center right beside the turtle rescue center. Guess where we will be going next?

Addendum

We witnessed a turtle release from the Turtle Rescue Centre on the island. There was quite a large crowd and it was so nice to see this large turtle which had been found with two fish hooks on her and an infection make her way to the water and finally disappear in the waves.

Glen being interviewed for the local TV station

The whole thing was filmed and broadcast live on TV by this drone.

Hugh Ramsey Nature Park, Harlingen Texas

As you might have noticed, we love photographing birds! I really take pleasure in seeing and identifying a new bird that we have never seen before. So we were anxious to get out to a bird park to see what we could discover there.

The first place we visited is called Hugh Ramsey Nature Park and it's about 5 minutes from our campground. It's a small park with beautiful trails and a lot of different trees and vegetation with identity tags with a bit of information on most of them. The park is free to all and we can even take the dogs, which we do sometimes just for a change of scenery. The park goes along the Ayoro River on two sides and also has numerous ponds.

This sign is to alert us that the park also has other creatures roaming
like snakes, javelinas, coyotes, and bobcats. It would be too cool to see
any of those!

Whoever designed that park did a great job at providing the right habitat for different species and also for butterflies. It's also wheelchair accessible on some of the trails. There are washrooms close to the parking lot.

So this is where we saw our first Green Jay. I was so determined to see one! In fact, it was one of the reasons we came to Texas!

Most of the trails are wide and well graded making them wheelchair accessible. Sweet!

Our first Green Jay!

 You really have to keep looking around as you walk the trails as there might be a bird in plain view that you might miss if you're not scouting the trees. That's how I spotted Chachalacas. They were deep in the brush but I saw movement so looked more intensely to see these large birds hopping from branch to branch. I took some pictures but they are hard to see in there.

I knew that's what they were as I had seen them in my bird book while researching another bird. They hop onto branches without using their wings, like I have seen Toucan do. I really hope to see them again and get a better picture.

I could hear this bird call that sounded like a cry but I could never see it. Finally, this little bird came out from deep within a tree just long enough for me to catch a picture. Now I knew what was making that (by now annoying) sound. It was a Black-crested Titmouse!

Another bird I had never seen! By now I am in heaven! But it's not over. I catch a glimpse of colour, follow it to partially see an Altamira Oriole. They are strictly southern birds so no chance of ever seeing them in Canada where we get the Baltimore Oriole.

The butterflies are everywhere making us think we are at a butterfly conservatory. They are very active and flitter from flower to flower with frenetic energy, rarely staying still long enough to photograph.

These two were up to no good! Aiming for a connection!

On our way back to the parking lot, we heard then spotted several Great Kiskadees. They are so pretty and their call sounds like their name: kiskadee, kiskadee, kiskadee. They seem to abound in this park as on another visit we also saw several of them in a tree.

We love this park like many other people that seem to go there just to walk or eat their lunch. It is truly a small gem.

Oh! and one day, on our way to town, I spotted this raptor on top of a telephone pole. I was able to snap a picture before we started to move again and later on discovered that it was a Harris' Hawk. You never what you'll see on the side of the road!