BIRDING THE SAND SPIT
By Jim Foster
The drive from Brownsville to South Padre did little to raise my spirits. This was to be a birding photography trip with my talented sister in law Linda Johnston. Crossing the causeway the island was covered with a foggy haze almost like fog we felt would not be beneficial to taking good photographs.
Our destination was the South Padre Island Convention Center and the birding area and boardwalk extending out to the Laguna Madre. It was about the right time to be there and we could see a group of birders already heading out on the boardwalk.
The tide was out exposing some of the dirt work that had been done in the area. I believe that it will be a good move once the vegetation grows back soon and there will be more water when higher tides return.
In the meantime the birding was still average and as it turned out the photography was good with some interesting birds to point a lens in their direction.
Some of the people enjoying the birds were a group from the Harlingen Audubon Society on a field trip to the island. In the group were several Alpen Optics users and it was good to hear their praise of one of my sponsor’s products. We had a brief discussion on the use of binoculars in photographing wildlife then it was on to finding the next bird. These were a good group of birders respectful of others and enjoying the outdoors with the others.
South Padre island has been the site where birders have spotted some rare or unique birds that rarely visit the island. They were at times dropouts from migrations or brought here by a storm in the Gulf of Mexico.
As the morning grew older there were many birds to see and photograph so the earlier haze was long forgotten. This was one of the best birding areas I have found in my travels and the birders met here are serious and courteous people. I shall return all I can.
For more information on this and other Valley sites go to: http://www.worldbirdingcenter.org/sites/spi/index.phtml
