Roaming With Carl

South Padre – Pictures 21 – 22 Nov 2009

I have plenty of reasons why these weren’t posted in a timely manner but I’ll won't bore you with any of them.

Here is “hopefully” and opening set of pictures from my last South Padre Island trip.  I have a couple more I’m considering on adding to the on-line album.

This link is to Google’s Picassa photo appliance so we will see how it works.

• SPI 21-22 November. 

South Padre – 23 Nov 2009

Today was return to base.  The adventure was focused on the performance of my 5 year old Accura.  I deliberately picked a direct route via TX-100, US 77 and IH-37 from South Padre to San Antonio.

The result was 5.5 hours of total travel time. Includes two restroom stops totaling 52 minutes.  The on-board computer calculated an average speed of 62 mph and a 32 mpg.  Total odometer distance from gas pump to gas pump was 295.7 miles.  Total gallons of fuel 9.236 (71% of fill-up). 

IMHO – Not bad!!

South Padre - 22 Nov 2009

Today was not as nice as yesterday.  The clouds rolled in around 10:00 and when they left a haze behind;  noticeable only because yesterday was so clear.

The birding event today was about two hours spent at the Laguna Madre Facility.  Took about 40 pictures some of them were even of birds.  The ranges were long but some of the bigger birds came out okay.  I'll post some when I get titles on them. Right now I got some big white waders, some medium sized white waders.  Something that look like little blue herons.  Some smaller birds that are too far away to identify but there was a whole bunch on a mud flat.  One Killdeer where I took a shot at a pair.  And oh yeah one big alligator. I think some of my better shots were of the open dunes where the sun was reflecting off the sea oats tassels.

Tomorrow I'll head back to San Antonio.  The primary purpose of the trip was to find out if I could travel with my current medical situation.   The answer is more satisfactory that I had hoped.  There is still some major tweaks to make to the travel kit,  But that was purpose.

South Padre – 21 Nov 2009

After driving for 5 hours in the rain from San Antonio to Harlingen yesterday; today is a beautiful morning! Great bird watching weather. Unfortunately my binoculars are still on the table back home. 

So I am reduced to bird watching with the camera’s telephoto function.   I don’t have the hang of it yet.  I did get a chance to survey the new World Birding Center on South Padre.  An overabundance of Brown Pelicans and some Reddish Egrets were there; but otherwise nothing remarkable.  The Ranger said to come back at sundown.  I did but it was bust.  I did see what might have been a Red Tail Hawk sitting on a light pole on the way to the center.  

I do have some photos of the main drag of South Padre that I won’t post (yet).  I’ll go out again tomorrow and take some with more thought. 

I’ve been to here a couple of times before but have never stayed on the island.  This time I took friends recommendations and stayed at the Sheraton.  It is an older facility and a tad pricey but it is worth it.   Friday night is a seafood buffet that is quite extensive with both hot and cold sides. Well worth the experience if you are in the area.  Apparently the buffet is also patronized by the locals; based on eavesdropping on the next table.