The new birds just won't stop!

When we paid a second visit to Laguna Atocosta National Preserve, and had a field day. Not only did we get another chance to take in the Altamira Oriole very close up, but we had oodles of Green Jays, Kiskadees, and Warblers. But the true bonus was a great up-close look at some Crested Caracara. When you get a good look at these guys, you can see why they are often referred to as the Mexican Bald Eagle.

This guy was wandering around in the Preserve and was also eying the Crested Caracara, as well as the plethora of other birds. As you can see, he was impressed.

Back at the SPI Birding Center we tried to identify a new bird, one that we hadn’t seen before. While there we saw a great sight, 17 Great Blue Herons standing around in the mud flats. The docents said that the Herons gather together like this when they are preparing to migrate, so they must be heading North soon. As I looked in the nearby water, I spotted this Caspian Tern. It looks like a Gull, but the bright orange beak, the pronounced black cap and the black tail tell it all.

One of the Great Blue Herons decided to grace the Woman with a visit. We couldn’t tell if he was getting ready to hit the road Northward. But sitting on the handrail, the Heron allowed the Woman to get really close before he felt the need to take flight. 

Talk to you soon!

Family time

The Woman got a nice surprise. Her cousin Diane decided to spend a weekish in South Padre Island this winter. Her rental condo was only a mile away from us, so the Woman got lots of cousin time in. And because she was as much a birder as we are, we spent a lot of that time at various hot birding locations.

Diane’s son Eric and his squeeze, Allie spent several days with her for some winter escape time from his Montana home. Eric is an ornithologist, so he helped correct many of our missed identifications of birds. One day we rented a golf cart and headed as far North as the road goes on the island. It was a gas!

Diane brought her Golden Retriever, Kalli, and Kona was beside himself with delight. The quickly became besties, and were inseparable when out on the beach.

The only down side was that the time together was too short. But we made the best of the little time that we had together.

Talk to you soon!

Auto service in small town Texas

We’re on the island for three months, so I had no choice but to get the oil changed in the Equinox, if I didn’t want to run it well beyond the factory recommended interval. There was no place on the island to get an oil change, and the only options in Port Isabell were either Walmart or JR’s Fast and Fair shop. When possible, I always choose not-Walmart where possible.

Pardon my sounding presidential, but in Texas on the Rio Grande, English is not necessarily the common language. When I showed up at 1 PM to get the oil changed, the owner asked me if I wanted the filter changed as well. I said “yes”, and he said “You have one?”. I said “No” and he said “Either Walmart or O’Reily’s”. I said “Do you want me to go get one?” and he said “Si”.

So, I hit O’Reily’s and picked up a filter, and headed back to JR’s. When I gave the mechanic the keys, I told him the filter was on the driver seat. He said “Where is the oil?” I said “I wasn’t told I needed to bring the oil as well.” He said “Oh, OK – we can get the oil.”

Well, I have to admit that I am not used to this – getting used to Jiffy Lube I expected them to have filters, but never even considered having to bring my own oil. That being said, they did very good work, and nailed the 45-minute estimate for how long it would take. The cost was reasonable, and I was pleased.

So, if you ever need work in the South Padre Island area, I would recommend JR’s Fast and Fair. But if you come for an oil change, bring your own filter and oil!

Talk to you soon!

SPI Kite Fest

Apparently, February has been the month that folks on South Padre Island would gather together on a weekend to have a fun gathering of kite enthusiasts. The event kept getting bigger until in 2010, Kite Trade Association International recognized it as the Kite Festival of the year!

We headed out to the festival grounds just North of the SPI Convention Center. We don’t know how many people were there, but it certainly numbered in the thousands. Kites of all imaginable shapes dotted the sky, some small and others huge. The interesting shapes and colors reminded us a great deal of the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta.

We enjoyed walking around the grounds to get a close look at the interesting shapes. All of them flew, although some of them

were more controllable than others. The largest ones were mainly for show and catching your eye. The smaller ones were quite maneuverable, with their “pilots” showing off for all the crowd.

They had some a competition where folks with maneuverable kites competed in a short-timed event accompanied by music. We took in several of the announced flies, and were impressed both at how maneuverable the kites were, and how well the “pilots” were able to choreograph their flies along with the music playing on the loud speaker.

We had a great time and were glad we took it I

n. Since we were right next door to the Birding Center we headed over and did the board walk. This Coopers Hawk was quite interested in all the colorful things up in the sky. We assume he considered them possible lunch.

Talk to you soon!

More new birds!

The Woman’s cousin Diane decided to spend a couple weeks in South Padre Island this winter, so we get to spend some more time with family while down here! Diane is at least as much a birder as we are, so today she decided we should visit the Birding Center on our way to dinner. Despite all the regulars we pointed out to her, we were rewarded with a pretty good look at a Yellow Rumped Warbler for the very first time for us here. I’ll let you decide if the official name fits the bird or not.

But the really big surprise was spotting this magnificent bird for the first time in the entire two months we have been here so far. We had seen them up near Port Aransas before, but not down here. The bird spotting card the Woman says this gem can be identified by its blueish grey head, its short black beak, its salmon colored belly, and the deep red stripe on its shoulder. But its most prominent feature is its split tail, even longer than its actual body, that looks like a pair of black scissors. This Scissor Tailed Flycatcher put on a show for us, flitting around right in front of us, pausing periodically on the top of a bush so we could get a good look. Bonus!

So, this is not a new bird but a new behavior for us. We had been spotting Green Herons nearly every day. But they almost always just sat there motionless. Well, during Diane’s visit, this guy suddenly took flight and grabbed a small fish out of the water. He then proceeded to squawk and crane his neck just like a chicken while he gobbled down his catch. Bonus number 2!

Talk to you soon!

Winter Outdoor Wildlife Expo

We hit up the week-long Winter Outdoor & Wildlife Expo. This is the 22^nd annual Expo – our favorite part was the raptor exhibit where we saw at least a dozen large raptors, only feet away from us. We saw four Falcons native to Texas, a Crested Caracara which we had seen wild at the Brownsville landfill, and several owls, many of them native to Texas. My favorite was likely the Snowy Owl, even though it was not a bird native to Texas.

Since we were already at the Birding Center, we headed out onto the boardwalk to see if we could spot any new birds. This Couches King Bird qualified as new to us in South Padre Island. We used to see these frequently in Port Aransas, but had yet to see one down here.

We had a really hard time figuring this one out. The shape of this bird we spotted off our sunset deck looked like many of the herons or egrets we had seen. But the colors didn’t match anything in the Audubon book we’ve been using as our bible. I decided to try out our Sibley Guide to Eastern North America, and bingo! This is an adolescent White Ibis! As it grows to adulthood its feathers will turn white, except for the black tips of it’s wings. Who knew!

Talk to you soon!

Sunset bonus

Nick and Val helped make it a great Christmas by giving us a sunset dinner cruise. We managed to schedule it on what turned out to be the best day ever. We had virtually no wind, a clear sky with pleasant temperatures, lots of dolphins surfacing along the way, and live entertainment on board. Coupling that with freshly brazed Gulf shrimp as an appetizer and fajitas with a choice of beef, chicken and freshly grilled Mahi. I for one had all 3!

While being a bit misty cloudy at the horizon, the sunset was very pleasant and warmed out heart, especially seeing it from the waters of Laguna Madre with no obstacles in the way whatsoever. As the sun set, we got serenaded with some of the most spectacular colors of any sunset we had witnessed in the last two months of nightly sunsets. It was glorious!

The first bonus was the Super Moon. When the moon is full as it passed the earth at its closest point in its elliptical orbit, it appears to be upwards of 20% larger than usual. Well, it happened tonight and it was spectacular! In addition, when there are two full moons in a month, it’s called a Blue Moon, and that only happens about every 3 years. We had a full moon on January 1, and again the evening of January 30, so we got a Super Moon and a Blue Moon. 

But it even got more special if that’s possible. In the early hours of January 31, there was a total Lunar Eclipse that was visible from our party deck. Because there can be an orangish tinge to the moon during a lunar eclipse, it’s referred to as a Blood Moon. The combination of a Full Moon, a Blue Moon and a Blood Moon is very rare. No human alive on the earth right now has ever seen one until just now. The last time the trifecta occurred was in 1868. Bonus number 3!

Talk to you soon!