Saying Goodbye to SPI

3/3/2023. Leaving tomorrow AM. We stayed at the Tiki, north end of SPI. Here’s Peggy and Sammy saying goodbye from the balcony pool side…

The pool is heated. Peggy exercised in it nearly every day. And we walked at least 4 miles each day. Birding was the main activity for me, that and beach walking with Sam. The SPI birding center and the Sea Turtle Conservation center are walking distance, we went to those Monday and Tuesday this week. Wednesday we went to Brownsville, Tx for the Red-Crowned Parrots. There were 100’s of parrots and about a dozen birders congregated around the roosting trees. Just as much fun was seeing the families, all mexican Americans, watching or coaching their children as they played baseball, soccer or kickball. A very pleasant evening and an all-American scene if there ever was one.

We went to the main public beach one evening this week. It is very nice. Just as nice as any beach we go to in Florida. It ends at the jetty, a long straight row of rocks that mark the beginning of the Brownsville ship channel. We were told sea turtles can often be seen feeding along the jetty. It was almost dark by the time we got there so didn’t see any. The ship channel was dug in 1936. About 17 miles long it extends to Brownsville. Very large ships can go through it, including for example tankers and some aircraft carriers. Here’s Jesus Christ of the Fishermen that overlooks the gulf end of the channel.

In case we come back our favorite restaurants were Tortugas and Joe’s Oyster Bar in Port Isabel, Palm cafe at Palm resort hotel (a dive hotel for sure), Padre Island Brewing Co. and Porkies Pit food truck. Sea food was a little better than in Florida. Porkies Pit BBQ was out of this world.

Without tennis, pickle ball or golf, birding became my number one activity. Well, that and beach walking Sam. Tonight Peggy said, after the umpteenth time someone went through the script, “answering questions about this dog is a full time job”. Of the 37 life birds I wrote down as possibilities before coming here I saw 22. But there were three I saw which I didn’t expect, Fulvous Whistling duck, Pauruque, Sooty Tern. So 25 new life birds. Since the last blog mention of life birds I’ve seen Red Crowned Parrots, Ladder Backed Woodpecker and Curve Billed Thrasher. Biggest misses were Clay Colored Thrush, White Tailed Kite, Hooded Oriole and Couch’s Kingbird. The latter I probably saw but it can only be distinguished from the Tropical Kingbird by it’s song and all kingbirds I saw were silent.

Last pic from SPI…..

Tomorrow we plan to drive to a Galveston area hotel. Sunday I want to see high Island, famous for birds during migration, it won’t be anything special this weekend, just want to see it. Sunday we will either go to Lake Charles or Lafayette Louisiana to see cajun country and hopefully find an authentic local place for crawfish. Then we will head north, home 3/7 or 3/8.