South Padre Island

Since we arrived here, we have had an Altimera oriole that likes to attack our mirrors on both the motorhome and the Jeep. He is very camera shy and usually takes off before we can get the picture. I finally caught him the other day in action.

There is always talk of the border fence in the news, here is a section of it near the refuge. The Fish and Wildlife Service haven't allowed it to be built on refuge property so that the wildlife can pass back and forth across the river. This of course makes the refuge a funnel for illegal immigration. It is quite common to run into them while working on the trails and drug busts happen quite often around here.

Wednesday was predicted to be 80 degrees and sunny so we took our first trip over to South Padre Island. In front of the visitors information center were some large sand castles. The builder is quite an artist.

After a little sightseeing in town we headed out north to the beach where you can drive on it with 4x4 vehicles. 

After a late lunch at the local must-go-to place called Dirty Al's we headed home. Passing through Port Isabel on the way home we saw a big tower in the distance, so we had to go check it out. It was this oil drilling rig that had been beached in the shallow water. Looked huge up close.

A Little Sightseeing

Wednesday was a nice day here, so we drove west to a unit of the refuge about and hour and a half away. It is located on the edge of a small community called Salineno. You can read more about Salineno here. The refuge there is a small unit on the edge of town right on the Rio Grande. There are two RV volunteer couples living on the site and it is a popular spot for bird watchers to visit. Along the road near there we saw one of the blimps that are used for camera surveillance of the river area. It was parked on the ground at the time, but I have also seen them in the air. They are tethered to the ground with a long cable when they are in the air.

On the way to Salineno we stopped at an old chapel called La Lomita and looked around it for awhile.

An old brick oven on the grounds there.

Janice is checking out a small retama tree. It is a common tree around here that looks like it has long pine needles.

But if you look closer, the needles are actually stems with tiny leaves on them.

A few pictures of the inside.

A friendly crew was cleaning up the grounds there and one of them offered to take our picture.

Saturday was warm and nice so we and another volunteer couple took the tram tour here at the refuge. It travels a seven mile loop with a few stops to look at various things. 

                         

One of the stops was a short trail to the river.

The refuge has this ball moss on some of the trees as well as spanish moss in some areas.

Near the end of the tour we spotted this Harris Hawk by the road.

Time is flying fast here, we only have about five weeks left.