South Padre Island visit

Hello, everyone.

Not long ago, as y'all will remember, we went to the Island to view the wonderful quilts at the quilt show. After being amazed at so many beautiful works, we strolled next door to the nature trail.

There was no sun, in fact there was thunder in the area and it started to sprinkle at one point. There were still birds. One of the most interesting ones we saw that day, captured in DH's photos:

 Here he was flaring his crest to convince a great crowd of red headed ducks (ruddy ducks? a bit of a crest at the rear of their heads.) to get out of his hunting area. After they swam away, he relaxed and commenced to getting his lunch:

Not pictured, but amazing nonetheless, he actually opened his wings, bringing them up close alongside his head, to block the glare of the sky and get a better look at the mud and water beneath him at one point. I had never seen a bird do that before.

This water, for those who might be going there and want to check it out, is on the bay side of the Island, just south of the Convention Center. It is not the same as another bird watching spot closer to the bridge. We were able to walk out on a boardwalk and view the birds, a few fishermen a ways off, and look down into the water to see if there were any hermit crabs crawling around.