South Texas: South Padre Island

On the beach

I turned 65 this year – whew that sounds scary. But, actually, it’s great because I am retired and able to travel a great deal.

I had planned a big celebration with my family because we’ve never really done a lot to celebrate my birthday. I booked a house, car and airline flights for all of us to go to the U.S. Virgin Islands in March so that I could tick off one more National Park (I have four to go!). 

Virgin Islands after Irma; Photo: WhatToDo-VI.com

Unfortunately, Hurricane Irma didn’t think I should get my big birthday celebration and wreaked havoc on U.S. Virgin Islands National Park and the rest of the islands, as well. 

I decided to cancel that trip and wait for the island to heal. I did plan to go back in a few years.

The house and car were no problem -- my reservations were graciously cancelled and my deposits quickly refunded. American Airlines not so much -- first, they were unclear on policy; then they issued credits that could be used for any other flight. But, the credits had to be used by the person who was ticketed (Caty, Scott and me, separately), not by the person who paid (ME!) and the flight had to be used within a year of the date I booked (and since I booked well in advance, the window was short -- seems like it should be within a year of planned travel). 

For the tickets I booked on miles (Becca and Aaron), they charged $175 to re-instate (I guess hurricane policies aren't applicable to miles). I tried to get the $175 back through my Citibank cancellation insurance, but that turned out to be as bad as American. Unless the accommodations I had booked were destroyed, they wouldn't cover any trip cancellation costs. So, even though my destination was not reachable, the hotel was and no $$$$. Oh, well, I only lost $175.

So, I decided to use my airline ticket credit to go to south Texas for some birding while Scott was in Mexico with a friend. Turns out that the ticket was less than the credit, so I got an additional voucher that I used for another flight.

Why South Texas? First, I wanted to see Harris's Hawks, Green Jays and Crested Caracaras.

Left to right: Harris's Hawk, Green Jay, Crested Caracara

Second, while looking for places to see Green Jays, I discovered Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge, which is an Ocelot refuge. I knew the odds of seeing an Ocelot were slim, but hey, nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Photo: Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge

I flew to Corpus Christi because it had the best prices and schedules and then drove two hours to South Padre Island, which was to be my base for most of the trip. Interestingly, the drive traverses the famous King Ranch, which covers 825,000 acres and, therefore has very few side roads. I discovered at the Kingsville Visitors Center that the King Ranch does birding tours and is home to rare Ferruginous Burrowing Owls. Maybe next time.

I am not going to give you the chronological version of my trip because I bounced around a bit. But, while in South Padre, I visited the beach, Laguna Atascosa, Port Isabel and the surrounding area. 

Luckily, I saw enough Crested Caracaras to skip a trip to the Brownsville Landfill, which I hear is a popular Caracara hangout.

At one point, I headed out to Mission (west of Harlingen) to visit the National Butterfly Center, but didn’t get there because I realized I had left my rain jacket in the hotel when I left that warm morning. The temperature was plummeting and it started raining, so I went back to get the jacket. Then, I went back to Laguna Atascosa, which turned out to be a good decision.

The trip to South Padre was almost uneventful, except that I did see my first wild Harris’s Hawk sitting in a tree by the highway -- unfortunately it flew away before I got a good picture (no problem -- I got many good pictures later).

Harris's Hawk

And, I saw a dead Barn Owl on the side of the road, which was very unfortunate. I also saw the last glimpse of the sun until my last day in Texas. So, although I saw lots and lots of wildlife, I struggled with getting good pictures because most of the time it was foggy – very, very foggy. It was also cold and occasionally rainy. It could have been worse. It didn’t actually rain as much as predicted.

Not what I expected

My vision of South Padre island is hordes of crazy, drunk spring breakers cavorting on the beach. 

This time, not so much. 

The island has lots of hotels and restaurants and seemed fairly busy, but in a subdued sort of way. 

Most of the tourists were my age or older (snowbirds and birders) and the fog just seemed to mute everything. I stayed at a very nice Best Western a few blocks from the beach. Had it been sunny I might have regretted not being closer to the surf. 

I never ate in a restaurant. Instead, I visited a local grocery store and bought enough food to last me most of the trip. And, that’s good thing because most of the places where I spent my time had NOTHING nearby. Always plan a picnic when going to a National Wildlife Refuge.

Windy and cold

I didn't spend much time on the beach, which had some pretty dramatic surf because of the wind. 

It has huge dunes that regularly drift across the road at the end of the island. In one spot, the sand was about eight feet high in the lane! 

Of course, I was a little disappointed at the sand color -- I am from Clearwater, Florida. I like white sand.

Among the birds I photographed on the beach were Sanderlings ...

A cutie

Willets ...

Success! 

Laughing Gulls ...

Fighting the wind, which turned into a softshoe dance

Royal Terns ...

Hunkering down in the wind

And, the biggest surprise (to me) of all, was a Peregrine Falcon. 

I thought it was a gull at first

I think of Peregrines as mountain birds (although they are pretty famous for inhabiting skyscrapers in big cities). I do not think of them as beach birds. But, there it was, clinging to a wire in the wind …

Luckily, it posed after I stopped

…. and then flying to another perch ...

Finally taking off

Unfortunately, it was just around sunset, so I had to really push it to get these pictures. Still, my first wild Peregrine Falcon. 

Cool

South Padre Island is home to the South Padre Island Birding and Nature Center, which is billed as “the Rio Grande Valley's premier destination for birdwatching.” 

It has more than 3,300 linear feet of boardwalk, five bird blinds, a Visitors Center, a gift shop and a five-story tower with “spectacular views of Laguna Madre, Beaches and dunes of South Padre Island, the Gulf of Mexico and the South Padre Island Skyline.” 

Fog, again!

I never went up the tower because the fog limited visibility to the point that I am not sure that you would be able to even see the ground.

The Center is lovely. It costs $5 to get in and the variety of birds was fairly good. 

Even with the challenge of fog, I did manage to get good pictures of a variety of birds.

Clapper Rail ...

A lifer for me

Blue-Winged Teals ...

You can't always see the blue

Roseate Spoonbills ...

I wish they had just been closer

American Coots ...

Love those feet!

Mottled Ducks (lifer) ...

A subtle duck

Green Herons ...

By the boardwalk

Laughing Gulls ...

On the boardwalk

 Pied-billed Grebes ...

A cute little duck

Great Blue Herons ...

Still foggy

Myrtle Yellow-rumped Warblers ...

"Butter butt"

Ospreys ...

On a snag above the wetlands

Tri-Colored Herons ...

Close-up

Red-Winged Blackbirds ...

A female

Snowy Egrets ...

Breeding plumage

Common Gallinules ...

A striking bill

Even a Northern Harrier ...

Hunting over the marsh

I would love to go back on a sunny day – I think it would be spectacular (and probably a lot more crowded).

While I didn’t spend a lot of time on South Padre Island, I must say that I feel somewhat guilty that, the entire time I lived in Texas I thought of South Padre and Padre (I will talk about that later) as inferior, tacky beaches. Not so. They were very nice. I would go back.

Trip date: February 6-11, 2018