South Padre Island Birding and Center

On our second full day in Texas we decided to visit the South Padre Island Birding and Nature Center which is located on South Padre Island near the Convention Center. This is a pretty new park and facility which is associated with the World Birding Center. The center focus of the park is the visitors center which is loaded with interactive exhibits, auditoriums, classrooms, gift shop and topped off with a five story observation tower. The tower provides a great view of the entire park as well as parts of the island and the Laguna Madre. Just be careful or you might find yourself stuck like I did. I decided to go out on the balcony to get a better look only to find that no one had unlocked the doors yet, we got there right at opening, and so the door locked behind me. Thank goodness Michelle finally rescued me.

The park consists of 43 acres of various types of habitat including freshwater ponds, island scrub brush, brackish and saltwater marshes. Winding through the different habitats there is 4800 linear feet of boardwalks and paths as well as 7 different blinds.

The main subjects to photograph here were waterfowl and wading birds. We spotted six different types of herons and egrets, including the great egret, snowy egret, reddish egret, great blue heron, tricolored heron and the little blue heron, which is pictured above.

They were also some wading birds that we do not often get to see here in Minnesota such as the black-legged stilt, white ibis, endangered brown pelican, and the roseate spoonbill, which is pictured above. We were excited about the spoonbills, even though we have seen them on most of our trips to Florida, because this was the closest that we have ever been able to get to these spectacular birds.

Besides the waterfowl and waders there were also quite a few shorebirds including log-billed curlew, American wimbrel, least and semipalmated sandpiper.

However this park is not just for the birds. We spotted this turtle, which I believe is a red-eared slider swimming around one of the fresh water ponds. Red-eared sliders are often used as pets.

There were also a few predators hanging out in the park. At one point a northern harrier, sometimes referred to as a marsh hawk, flew lowly over the grass in search of prey and in the water there was an even larger predator. The American alligator often floats motionless on the top of the water, looking a lot like an old log, waiting for prey to get close enough where it can spring its trap.

Watery Wednesday: Semipalmated Sandpiper

Last August I traveled to South Dakota to participate in a three day shorebird workshop.

Small shorebirds are notoriously difficult to identify. Many have only subtle marking that distinguish them from other similar shorebirds.

The semipalmated sandpiper is one of the smaller sandpipers and it is often difficult to distinguish it from the least sandpiper, especially since they often can both be found in the same mixed flocks of shorebirds.
Both the least and semipalmated are approximately the same size, around 6", but the least usually appears darker in color, more of a brown hue compared with the semi which is lighter and more grey.
The easiest way to tell the difference is that the semipalmated has dark legs compared to the least which has yellow legs.
The semipalmated also has webbing between its toes, which the least does not. Palmated means webbed and that is where they get their common name. However it is not very often that you will get a good look at their toes since they are typically planted in the mud.
It is even more difficult to distinguish the semipalmated sandpiper from the western sandpiper. Both are approximately the same size, have dark legs and webbed feet but the western sandpiper is more of a reddish brown and has a longer bill. Fortunately there is not a lot of over lap in range between the semi and western sandpipers, but sporadic appearances by each type have been spotted in the other ones range.