We’ve enjoyed our time in South Padre Island, but we are
ready to be done. Walking to the beach daily (weather permitting) is nice, and
the SPI Birding Center is compelling. But there are just things you can’t do in
a town of 2,000 people in Texas on the Mexican border. For example, I haven’t
been able to get a Bombay Sapphire martini in 3 months, not at any of the
dozens of restaurants and bars we have visited. You can get a Shiner or a Dox
XX, but no Sapphire. It’s comforting, however, to learn they have skills here.
You’ve heard of Ice Wine before, the technology of squeezing grapes frozen on
the vine, and getting amazing results. We don’t know how they do this, but it
is Texas!
We are having fun as we approach spring and many of the
birds we had seen before have grown a bit. The birds we saw in December were
gorgeous, and we enjoyed them thoroughly. But many of them were juveniles
without their adult plumage. For example, juvenile White Ibis are completely
brown. They don’t turn pure white until they hit about 3, and most of them we
see now are totally white. This Reddish Egret, for example, in December had a
grey bill with a black tip. Now that it is more adult, the pink on its bill
emerges majestically!
Talk to you soon!
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