When I awoke this morning, the first sound I heard was the wind howling.  “Those are gale-force winds,” I thought in dismay. I opened the drapes and looked out: the sky was overcast and a light drizzle had dampened the tennis courts. No one was in any of the pools, even the heated one.  “We’re hunkering down today,” my sister announced, and I gave my whole-hearted assent.

But by 10:30 we were already stir-crazy, so we decided to venture out.  Located at 600 Padre Boulevard, barely a block from our condo, is the South Padre Island Visitor’s Center, so we stopped in to pick up brochures and a coupon book. The famous sand castle is the first thing you see when you step inside.  Built and maintained by the Sons of the Beach Sand Castle Wizards, this sculpture currently features a winter holiday theme:

Our next stop was the SPI Birding Center where we’d spent some time yesterday afternoon; my sister wanted to add our sightings to their eBird kiosk.  Developed by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the National Audubon Society, this Internet application has enabled citizen scientists to contribute their observations to a central database which is used to track the abundance and distribution of bird species in the United States and even internationally.

Back at the condo, I re-read the SPI Chamber of Commerce’s Guide to South Padre Island and realized there was another indoor activity that was available to us for the afternoon.  Located a few blocks south of us in Isla Blanca State Park is the University of Texas Pan American Coastal Studies Laboratory.  It’s an academic research station, but the building also houses exhibits on marine life, including live specimens, which means it’s an indoor aquarium.  “It opens at 1:30 and we’re going,” I said to my sister.  It cost $4 to get in to the Park, but we could drive right up to the North Pavilion and park at the marine lab.  Inside, it was warm and dry.

This is not a commercial attraction, so there weren’t a lot of fish exhibits, but there were skeletons of marine animals, cases of rare and beautiful sea shells, and in one tank, this wonderful octopus.

Octopi are indeed fascinating creatures, and I can only hope that Paul of World Cup fame (may he rest in peace) demonstrated for the general public some of their amazing abilities.

In one of the classrooms, a video about the flora and fauna of South Padre Island and the Lower Laguna Madre was playing, so we rewound to the beginning and watched the hour-long program.  It wasn’t a Hollywood production but held my interest nevertheless.

This morning we decided to visit the Boca Chica Unit of the Las Palomas Wildlife Management Area, which we found on a Triple-A map of Texas. According to the map, we should go west on 100, southwest on 48, and then on the outskirts of Brownsville, go south on 511 and then turn east on 4, which is also Boca Chica Boulevard.

Of course we stopped to look at birds. I have a hard time even seeing birds in the wild, so I don’t have many photos. Here is one of a Harris’ Hawk (Parabuteo unicinctus):

Southeast Texas is very dry, but aren’t these cactus flowers luscious?

We encountered a Border Patrol roadblock on our way to the coast and on the way back, but we saw very little traffic on Highway 4. Although the map showed our destination as “Boca Chica State Park” and “Brazos Island State Park”, we didn’t find any state park structures. So after a few hours of birding, we headed back.

The day was warm and sunny, so back at the condo, we changed into swimsuits and went out to the beach. Yes, I immersed myself in the water, which was chilly but bracing. I didn’t stay in very long and then warmed up in the hot tub afterward.

Since I’m an island girl and love the ocean, here’s another photo of waves:

Late in the afternoon, we headed for the South Padre Island Birding and Nature Center, at 6801 Padre Boulevard near the Convention Center, which is the most recently opened of the Texas World Birding Centers. My sister and I marveled at the 4,800 linear feet of boardwalk and blinds that they built.

Our first wildlife sighting was their resident alligator and an egret next to him:

We saw some large fish; I haven’t a clue as to what species these are:

The boardwalk takes visitors on a loop through glasswort and saltwort flats, black mangroves, mudflats, salt marsh and cordgrass, cattail marshes, and through both saltwater and freshwater habitats.  Seven blinds enable visitors to observe the myriad species of birds, in this area, mostly shorebirds, wetland birds, waterfowl, and some migrating songbirds.

I snapped this photo of a Great Egret (Ardea alba)

and one of a Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias), which are common in Massachusetts:

On our way back to the condo, we saw that the sun was about to set, so we pulled off the boulevard to watch:

At 5:45, the sun sank below the horizon.