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Tuesday 18th of April 2023 and we leave the hotel at 7 thirty and we expect to spend three and a half hours to drive to the southern part of the Padre Island. Yesterday we visited the northern part. We need to drive via the mainland to reach the southern part as the island is pure wilderness except for the northern and southern tip. So, we will drive to Port Isable and from there we will take the bridge to South Padre Island. So today it will be picnic lunch and we will pick up the picnic lunch at a German bakery in Corpus Christus before driving south.  On the way south
Our first stop will be at the Hazel Bazemore Park Hawkwatch Platform but it is raining cats and dogs so it will not be much of bird watching, well we will watch birds but I have no high hopes for any good pictures. We parked the car next to the Hawkwatch platform and the heavy rain had turned in to a drizzle. The platform had a roof so we were in cover from the rain. There were many birds and I took a whole lot of pictures, most of them went to the trash. Gloom and grey for long as I could see and a crazy ISO speed was required and the pictures was not any good. There were many birds that I had not seen before so it would have been nice with some sunshine.  Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
  Listen to the Northern Mockingbird
Sound from www.xeno-canto.org
   Great Kiskadee
Listen to the Brown-headed Cowbird
Sound from www.xeno-canto.org
We leave the platform and we drive down to the lake and it started to pour down again. We stopped to look for birds but I stayed in the car. I knew it would be pointless to try to get any good pictures. We spotted a pair of the beautiful duck, Black-bellied Whistling-Duck but too far away, and of course to dark for any good pictures.  The group is out in the rain
 The lake
We leave Hazel Bazemore Park Hawkwatch Platform and we continue south. Heavy rain so there are really no opportunities to stop for any birding. But we see one White-tailed Hawk on a road with the nick name “Hawk Alley” and this road is also an eBird hotspot with the same name. We continue towards Port Isabel and the bridge to South Padre Island. We will stop for the picnic lunch at a rest area on the way. The picnic area has tables and roof so it will be possible to enjoy the food even if it is raining. Gloom and grey for long as we can see
 We enjoy our lunch
 We enjoy our lunch
 Falfurrias Rest Area
 Falfurrias Rest Area
 Falfurrias Rest Area
We arrive to Falfurrias Rest Area and we eat a delicious lunch. I was ready first and I went to explore the area. I turned on my eBird app and I found out that the Falfurrias Rest Area was an eBird hotspot as well. It is a nice rest area and there are different areas for picnic and there was tables and BBQ equipment’s at the tables. The rest area is between the north and south lane of the highway so there was a little bit of a noise, no problem. But the recording has a little bit of noise from the cars.  Black-creasted Titmouse
Listen to the Black-creasted Titmouse
Sound from www.xeno-canto.org
There was a lot of birds in the rest area and I spotted three birds that I had never seen before. I got pictures of the three bird that I had never seen before, but the light made them pretty unusable. One recording of the “first timer” Black-crested Titmouse I spotted two different woodpeckers: 1) Golden-fronted Woodpecker 2) Ladder-backed Woodpecker  Brown-crested Flycatcher
 Couch's Kingbird
 Couch's Kingbird
  Ladder-backed Woodpecker
 Today's track at Falfurrias Rest Area
 We left the rest area and we spotted many hawks and vultures along the way. We passed one Swainson's Hawk sitting on a wire next to the road. We made a U-turn to try to get some pictures. The weather improved and the rain stopped, a drizzle every now and then and by the time we reached South Texas Ecotourism Center we could get out to walk around looking for birds. I told the group that I was going to stay at the parking to look for birds as I thought it was a visitor center only. Walking around on the parking and I could see birds on the other side of the fence and found out that there was a beautiful park behind the visitor center and I went to join the group. I spotted two new birds: 1) Redhead 2) Willet 3) Neotropic Cormorant  South Texas Ecotourism Center
  Black-bellied Whistling-Duck
 Black-bellied Whistling-Duck
 Black-bellied Whistling-Duck
   Laughing Gull
 Laughing Gull
 Today's track at the South Texas Ecotourism Center
We left the South Texas Ecotourism Center and we reached Port Isabel and we drove across the bridge to South Padre Islands. I have never seen so many souvenir shops at one place before. And they were huge as Walmarts. Who is buying all these souvenirs? The town was almost empty but they say it is full on weekends and holidays as it is a holiday town.  Port Isabel
 Port Isabel
 Port Isabel
 We reach the bridge between Port Isabel and South Padre Island
 Bridge between Port Isabel and South Padre Island
 Bridge between Port Isabel and South Padre Island
We made one stop to look for birds but I stayed in the van as it felt like a ZOO. There were many bird watchers and they were all hanging on the fence looking at the birds in the garden. There were two gardens that they had made in to a protective area. And they feed the birds so there were many birds. I just wanted to get to my hotel and I will have to go to a supermarket to by milk and stuff for my dinner and breakfasts. We stayed at Holiday Inn and it was a very nice room and the internet was working. So, I was happy after 3 days in Corpus Christi without internet. I booked a taxi to the supermarket.  At South Padre Island supermarket
 I took the same taxi back to the hotel and I had my tea. And I was hungry after a long day on the road. We will be exploring the birding areas in the area tomorrow and we will leave at 7 thirty tomorrow morning. Just click HERE to see if we find any exciting birds.
    
  You are visitor no.
To www.aladdin.st since December 2005
Visitors from different countries since 26th of September 2011
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Species lifer: First time that someone observes a species in their life
Photo lifer: First time that someone photographs a species in their life
Audio lifer: First time that someone audio records a species in their life
Naturalized: Exotic population is self-sustaining, breeding in the wild, persisting for many years, and not maintained through ongoing releases (including vagrants from Naturalized populations). These count in official eBird totals and, where applicable, have been accepted by regional bird records committee(s).
Provisional: Either: 1) member of exotic population that is breeding in the wild, self-propagating, and has persisted for multiple years, but not yet Naturalized; 2) rarity of uncertain provenance, with natural vagrancy or captive provenance both considered plausible.
Escapee: Exotic species known or suspected to be escaped or released, including those that have
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