Saturday, December 31, 2011

Day 9 Texas Vacation Xmas 2011


We got up a bit early today and had breakfast and got ready to go to the Birding Center.  We thought there would be another guided walk today, but when we arrived we discovered that the guided walk had been cancelled.  So we walked around the boardwalks on our own.

This is a map that shows the layout of the boardwalks around the center.

6434 Texas, South Padre Island - Birding and Nature Center

Once again we took over 200 photos at the Birding Center, so I will just show you a couple of the more interesting ones.

These two White Ibises are having a bit of a squabble.

6453 Texas, South Padre Island - Birding and Nature Center -White Ibises 6454 Texas, South Padre Island - Birding and Nature Center -White Ibises & Northernern Pintail duck 6455 Texas, South Padre Island - Birding and Nature Center -White Ibis & Mottled ducks

I watched this alligator for about 20 minutes as he lay in hiding watching his potential next meal.  I am convinced that he was not hungry because the Pied Billed Grebe and the Tri Colored Heron passed within grabbing distance but the alligator never took the opportunity.

6458 Texas, South Padre Island - Birding and Nature Center - American Alligator at blind #56473 Texas, South Padre Island - Birding and Nature Center - American Alligator & Pied-billed Grebe & Tricolored Heron at blind #5 6474 Texas, South Padre Island - Birding and Nature Center - American Alligator & Pied-billed Grebe & Tricolored Heron at blind #5

We watched the Pelicans fishing for their meal.  It is starting to get foggy, that is why the photos are a little washed out.

6515b Texas, South Padre Island - Birding and Nature Center - old section of boardwalk - Pelican fishing 6515 Texas, South Padre Island - Birding and Nature Center - old section of boardwalk - Pelican fishing 6515c Texas, South Padre Island - Birding and Nature Center - old section of boardwalk - Pelican fishing

6524 Texas, South Padre Island - Birding and Nature Center - old section of boardwalk - Pelican fishing 6524a Texas, South Padre Island - Birding and Nature Center - old section of boardwalk - Pelican fishing 6524b Texas, South Padre Island - Birding and Nature Center - old section of boardwalk - Pelican fishing

We watched this Great Blue Heron fly in and land on a post.

6534 Texas, South Padre Island - Birding and Nature Center - old section of boardwalk - Great Blue Heron in flight 6534a Texas, South Padre Island - Birding and Nature Center - old section of boardwalk - Great Blue Heron in flight6534b Texas, South Padre Island - Birding and Nature Center - old section of boardwalk - Great Blue Heron in flight

This Great Egret was kind enough to stretch its wings for us.

6550 Texas, South Padre Island - Birding and Nature Center - Great Egret 6549 Texas, South Padre Island - Birding and Nature Center - Great Egret

After our visit to the Birding Center, we resumed our search for the elusive Pelican Sand Sculpture.  Our sources told us it was in Andy Bowie Park so we paid the admission fee of $4.00 and went in to search.  The guy in the booth at the entrance gate had no idea what we were talking about when we asked him where the sand sculpture was.  It was very foggy at this part of the Island.

6570 Texas, South Padre Island - Andy Bowie Park Beach Access #2 6565 Texas, South Padre Island - Andy Bowie Park Beach Access #2 6561 Texas, South Padre Island - Andy Bowie Park Beach Access #2

You can just see the tops of the nearby condo towers peeking through the fog.

6566 Texas, South Padre Island - Andy Bowie Park Beach Access #2

We never did find the Pelican Sand Sculpture, so we will have to do some further research before our next attempt to locate it.  Perhaps it fell victim to vandals and has been destroyed.  We will give it one more attempt in the next few days to try and locate it.

We drove further North to Beach Access #5.   I wanted to check out the laneway there to see if it would be suitable for using to drive our car onto the beach.  A lot of the beach access points are not suitable for anything less than a 4 wheel drive vehicle, but I was told that at Access #5 it would be suitable for getting our 2 wheel drive car down onto the beach, and upon inspection by me, I found that it is hard packed sand and so we will come back here on a day when it is not foggy and go for a drive along the beach.

This is Beach Access #5 as seen on a foggy day.  Not a good day for photos.

6579 Texas, South Padre Island - Padre Blvd - Beach Access #5 sign 6580 Texas, South Padre Island - Edwin King Atwood Park Beach Access #5 6584 Texas, South Padre Island - Edwin King Atwood Park Beach Access #5

The seagulls thought it was a nice day.

6585 Texas, South Padre Island - Edwin King Atwood Park Beach Access #5 - Laughing Gulls 6586 Texas, South Padre Island - Edwin King Atwood Park Beach Access #5 - Laughing Gulls 6587 Texas, South Padre Island - Edwin King Atwood Park Beach Access #5 - Gulf of Mexico and Laughing Gulls

The horse back riders seemed to be enjoying their ride along the beach despite the foggy conditions.

6589 Texas, South Padre Island - Edwin King Atwood Park Beach Access #5 - horseback riding on beach

Back at our trailer in the KOA Kampground, we read our Kindle e-reader books till it was time to start the BBQ for dinner.

6602 Texas, South Padre Island -KOA Kampground - Karen outside RV

The fog set in heavy just before sunset, so there are no sunset photos this evening.  I BBQ’d hamburgers for dinner.  Now that I have had some practice, I am going to step it up a notch in a couple of days and BBQ some steaks.  Tonights hamburgers were delicious.

We were worried that the fog was going to obscure our view from our patio of the fireworks this evening, but around 9pm the fog cleared and at midnight we had a front row seat to the firework display put on by the South Padre Island Chamber of Commerce.   They anchor a large barge in the center of the bay to light the fireworks off from.

Our camera takes the worst possible photos at night, there are several dozen automatic settings and of course the ever intimidating manual settings, but I have never figured out or taken the time to learn how to take night photos, or more precisely, photos of fireworks at night.  Anyways, here are a few samples of the firework show to ring in the New Year,  SPI Texas Style.

6604 Texas, South Padre Island - KOA Kampground - South Padre Island's New Years fireworks from our RV 6606 Texas, South Padre Island - KOA Kampground - South Padre Island's New Years fireworks from our RV 6615 Texas, South Padre Island - KOA Kampground - South Padre Island's New Years fireworks from our RV

6635 Texas, South Padre Island - KOA Kampground - South Padre Island's New Years fireworks from our RV 6637 Texas, South Padre Island - KOA Kampground - South Padre Island's New Years fireworks from our RV 6640 Texas, South Padre Island - KOA Kampground - South Padre Island's New Years fireworks from our RV

HAPPY NEW YEAR to all of you from South Padre Island Texas.

To see all of our photos from today, you can click on this link to our FLICKR site.

Friday, December 30, 2011

Day 8 Texas Vacation Xmas 2011


Woke up around 8:30am this morning, there isn’t much chance to sleep any later because of the noisy Grackles that sit in the palm trees around our Airstream trailer. 

We ate breakfast then hung around our trailer for the morning.  After lunch we decided to leave the KOA campground and drive around the Island for a bit.  We had to pick up some groceries, but we also went in search of a few Sand Sculptures that are scattered throughout the Island.  The best known one is the one at the Visitor Center.

5983 Texas, South Padre Island - Visitors Center - sand sculpture

There is another one at the Police Station.   This is a flying turtle.

6394 Texas, South Padre Island - flying sea turtle sand sculpture in front of South Padre Island City Hall 6396 Texas, South Padre Island - flying sea turtle sand sculpture in front of South Padre Island City Hall 6397 Texas, South Padre Island - flying sea turtle sand sculpture in front of South Padre Island City Hall

There is one at a private residence.  It is titled “Un-Litter”.

6400 Texas, South Padre Island - lighthouse sand sculpture on Laguna Blvd 6402 Texas, South Padre Island - lighthouse sand sculpture on Laguna Blvd

Another one at a private residence is titled “The Wizards Roost”

6403 Texas, South Padre Island - 'The Wizard's Roost' sand sculpture on Laguna Blvd 6405 Texas, South Padre Island - 'The Wizard's Roost' sand sculpture on Laguna Blvd

There is one that we were not able to find, it is a Pelican.  We will keep looking for it over the next few days and hopefully find it.

Back at the KOA Campground on South Padre Island I lit the BBQ and and cooked dinner, then we walked over to the sunset deck to watch the setting sun.  We sure have been lucky this year at seeing the sunsets.  On our previous visit to the Island 3 years ago, it would always be cloudy in the late afternoon and the clouds would of course completely block the sunset.

6406 Texas, South Padre Island - KOA Kampground - sunset from our camp site 6422 Texas, South Padre Island - KOA Kampground - sunset 6426 Texas, South Padre Island - KOA Kampground - sunset

6427 Texas, South Padre Island - KOA Kampground - sunset 6431 Texas, South Padre Island - KOA Kampground - sunset 6432 Texas, South Padre Island - KOA Kampground - sunset

To see all the photos from today, you can click on this link to our FLICKR site.

Thursday, December 29, 2011

Day 7 Texas Vacation Xmas 2011


We woke up at 7:30am and had breakfast and got organized to go to the Birding and Nature Center for a guided tour.  A group of us met our guide Ryan on the front deck.  He talked a bit about the Birding Center and then led us on the walk.  We saw birds that we had not seen before and it was great having Ryan along to tell us the names of the birds and tell us a bit about the birds and their habitat.
  
We took over 200 photos on our walk, I will spare you the agony of looking at all 200 photos and just show you some of the best photos.

A Willet

6196 Texas, South Padre Island - Birding and Nature Center guided bird walk - Willet

A Killdeer

6204 Texas, South Padre Island - Birding and Nature Center guided bird walk - Killdeer

A Redhead Duck

6216 Texas, South Padre Island - Birding and Nature Center guided bird walk - Redhead duck

A Reddish Egret

6227 Texas, South Padre Island - Birding and Nature Center guided bird walk - Reddish Egret (rufous form)

A Snowy Egret fluffing its feathers

6240 Texas, South Padre Island - Birding and Nature Center guided bird walk - Snowy Egret

A Little Blue Heron

6251 Texas, South Padre Island - Birding and Nature Center guided bird walk - Little Blue Heron

A Hermit Crab

6266 Texas, South Padre Island - Birding and Nature Center guided bird walk - Hermit crab

A Red Breasted Merganser

6282 Texas, South Padre Island - Birding and Nature Center guided bird walk - Red-breasted Merganser

Very rarely seen during the daytime, a Black Crowned Night Heron

6285 Texas, South Padre Island - Birding and Nature Center guided bird walk - Black-crowned Night-heron

A Common Moorhen

6302 Texas, South Padre Island - Birding and Nature Center guided bird walk - Common Moorhen now called 'Common Gallinule'

An American Coot
6308 Texas, South Padre Island - Birding and Nature Center guided bird walk - American Coot

A Great Egret

6312 Texas, South Padre Island - Birding and Nature Center guided bird walk - Great Egret

A Pied-Billed Grebe

6320 Texas, South Padre Island - Birding and Nature Center guided bird walk - Pied-billed Grebe

I don’t need to tell you what this is…

6335 Texas, South Padre Island - Birding and Nature Center guided bird walk - American Alligator at blind 7 6339 Texas, South Padre Island - Birding and Nature Center guided bird walk - American Alligator at blind 7 6341 Texas, South Padre Island - Birding and Nature Center guided bird walk - American Alligator at blind 7

A Northern Shoveler

6349 Texas, South Padre Island - Birding and Nature Center guided bird walk - duck - northern shoveler (spoonbill)

A Lesser Yellowlegs Sandpiper

6356 Texas, South Padre Island - Birding and Nature Center guided bird walk - Lesser Yellowlegs sandpiper

After walking the boardwalks at the birding center we came back to our trailer and had some lunch.  After lunch I relaxed, worked on my computer for a bit and read part of the book that I am reading on my Kindle.  Karen went to the laundry room and did our laundry.  

It is a beautiful sunny day, high of 25 Celsius.
We walked over to the sunset viewing deck at 5:30pm.

6365 Texas, South Padre Island - KOA Kampground - sunset 6370 Texas, South Padre Island - KOA Kampground - sunset 6382 Texas, South Padre Island - KOA Kampground - sunset & Black Dragon Pirate Cruise ship

6388 Texas, South Padre Island - KOA Kampground - sunset 6389 Texas, South Padre Island - KOA Kampground - sunset 6390 Texas, South Padre Island - KOA Kampground - sunset

To see all of our photos from this evening you can find them on my FLICKR site.

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Day 6 Texas Vacation Xmas 2011


We woke up around 8am, it is a beautiful sunny morning, the temperature at this hour is 14 Celsius.  Going to be a high of 23 Celsius today under clear blue skies.

We ate breakfast and worked on our computers.  We finished unpacking and organizing our trailer.  At noon we had lunch and then we headed out for a drive North as far as the road will allow us to go.
 
The first stop is at the South Padre Island Visitors Center to look at the sand sculpture they have in their lobby.

5983 Texas, South Padre Island - Visitors Center - sand sculpture 5989 Texas, South Padre Island - Visitors Center - sand sculpture

We drove till we got to the road blocks across the road.  I am unsure why the road is closed at this point because it actually does continue for another couple of miles before the pavement ends.   We got out here, (Beach Access #6) and walked for an hour along the beach, watching the shore birds and looking for interesting sea shells.

5995 Texas, South Padre Island - Padre Blvd - road closed 5998 Texas, South Padre Island - Beach Access # 6 - Gulf of Mexico 5999 Texas, South Padre Island - Beach Access # 6 - Gulf of Mexico

People were fishing from the waters edge.

6001 Texas, South Padre Island - Beach Access # 6 - Gulf of Mexico

Lots of sea shells and someone took the time to make this heart out of sea shells.

6010 Texas, South Padre Island - Beach Access # 6 - sea shells 6003 Texas, South Padre Island - Beach Access # 6 - Gulf of Mexico 6013 Texas, South Padre Island - Beach Access # 6 - sea shell art on beach

We decided to go to the Birding Center, but I was wearing my sandals and needed to change into proper shoes, so we headed back to our trailer.  Along the way we stopped to watch the horseback riders heading down to the beach to ride along the seashore.

6024 Texas, South Padre Island - horseback riders crossing Padre Blvd 6025 Texas, South Padre Island - horseback riders crossing Padre Blvd 6026 Texas, South Padre Island - horseback riders crossing Padre Blvd

Now that I have proper shoes on, we spent a couple of hours at the South Padre Island Birding Center.
The Visitors Center is brand new since we were here 3 years ago.  All of the original boardwalks are still in place, but many new ones have been built.  There is now an entrance fee, which is $4.00 per person per day, but we bought a pass that allows us to come every day.

6032 Texas, South Padre Island - Birding and Nature Center 6037 Texas, South Padre Island - Birding and Nature Center

Whenever we come here we wind up taking over 200 photos of the birds, but I will just show some of the better photos here.

A Northern Pintail Duck

6045 Texas, South Padre Island - Birding and Nature Center - Northern Pintail Duck

An American Coot

6057 Texas, South Padre Island - Birding and Nature Center - American Coot

A Willet

6065 Texas, South Padre Island - Birding and Nature Center - Willet

A Snowy Egret

6083 Texas, South Padre Island - Birding and Nature Center - Snowy Egret

A Roseate Spoonbill

6127 Texas, South Padre Island - Birding and Nature Center - Roseate spoonbill

A Great Blue Heron

6134 Texas, South Padre Island - Birding and Nature Center - Great Blue Heron

A Tricolored Heron

6147 Texas, South Padre Island - Birding and Nature Center guided bird walk -Tricolored Heron

A Reddish Egret

6157 Texas, South Padre Island - Birding and Nature Center guided bird walk -Reddish Egret

Back at our trailer, I fired up the BBQ and then we went to the Sunset Deck to watch another spectacular sun set.

6160 Texas, South Padre Island - KOA Kampground - sunset 6165 Texas, South Padre Island - KOA Kampground - sunset 6182 Texas, South Padre Island - KOA Kampground - sunset

6186 Texas, South Padre Island - KOA Kampground - sunset & Black Dragon Pirate Cruise ship

After the sunset, the BBQ was ready and I cooked some hotdogs, nothing fancy, but very delicious.

To see all of our photos from today you can click on this link to our FLICKR site.