South Padre Island Birding/Convention Center

[sandboa]

This post is really just intended as a plug for this wonderful photo facility rather than to show off any photos I took.

A few weekends ago, we went down to South Padre chasing the Black-legged Kittiwake that had been wintering there.
While on the island, we took the opportunity to visit a site I had heard about, but never seen, the South Padre Island Convention/Birding Center Boardwalk.

It is a great spot for photographing an interesting variety of critters. There is a nice boardwalk that starts out in a freshwater marsh, goes through a salt marsh area, and ends up in the shallows of the Laguna Madre. It provides an interesting diversity of species and many of them are quite photo tolerant.

We got quite close to some normally shy ducks -

Northern Pintail -



Redheads -



American Wigeon



and I took more photos of Little Blue Herons than I've ever managed to get before -



This Wilson's Snipe was sitting calmly and invisibly until this Clapper Rail walked almost right into him. I like how the snipe spread its tail in alarm/warning/disgust.



Other easy birds there included several other species of heron/egret, Clapper Rails, Pied-billed Grebes, gulls, terns, skimmers, a couple of very cooperative alligators, several shorebird species, a Peregrine on the water tower and a variety of otherwise difficult species.

See! There is something fun to do on South Padre Island after all. And right now, rooms are cheap.

Well worth investigating if you are down there.

I should point out that about 1/3 of the boardwalk is part of the convention center and is free to access while the other 2/3 is part of the birding center and you should pay the entrance fee for access.

Chris

[MichaelW]

Nice variety of birds it appears. Nice work. I haven't seen it but I have heard that Port Aransas also has a boardwalk over a marsh area that holds quite a few birds.

[lhdvies]

Nice ones Chris, I'm heading down to the birding center in March!!

Leon

[sandboa]

Originally Posted by MichaelW

Nice variety of birds it appears. Nice work. I haven't seen it but I have heard that Port Aransas also has a boardwalk over a marsh area that holds quite a few birds.

They have a couple:

The Leona Turnbull Birding Center is a freshwater marsh created by the water treatment plant. A bit pungent at times, but great photo ops.
The newer Charlie's Pasture has a boardwalk out through some mud flats and salt marsh areas. Very different habitat than most boardwalks in the state and very interesting. It has just been extended significantly and eventually all these boardwalks/trails are supposed to join up. Charlie's Pasture is already a long hot walk on a summer's day however!

[houtex01]

Thanks for all the info Chris...nice photos...looks like a good spot to get some photos of some ducks I don't have...

Ron

[Stargazer77517]

Cool series Chris, We were down there last year.