Birding at South Padre Island

It was a crappy day today but since we've had nothing but crappy cold days for awhile now, we decided to just go over to South Padre Island and see what we could see. We stopped at the South Padre Birding and Nature Center and walked their Boardwalk.

As we were coming off the parking lot, we met these guys just finding what they could find to eat. 

Immature White Ibis

Still close to the parking lot, we found this guy. He has always been elusive to us so we were very happy to see him.

PYRRHULOXIA

Pyrrhuloxia

Mottled Ducks

Great Blue Heron

Blue Herons were everywhere today

We couldn't believe we got these pictures of a Great Blue Heron who had just caught this fish. We wanted to see him eat it but he just played with it forever.

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Little Blue Heron

Black Crowned Night Heron

There weren't a lot of birds out today but it wasn't fun for us humans either. Still waiting for the sun to shine!

When we finished at the Birding Center, we decided to stop and get some Cocoanut Shrimp at Pier 19. We just pulled into their parking lot when we saw the most amazing site. There was a helicopter flying around and a guy was attached by a rope of some sort to the bottom of the helicopter. We parked the car and walked over toward the helicopter to see what was going on. Apparently, it was a electric lineman hanging from the helicopter by a rope. I'm not sure what he was doing but he was attaching something to various electric poles in this area. We watched mesmerized as the copter flew him from one pole to another. Then they flew off with the guy still hanging from the rope. I wonder what the linemen in Iowa would think of this procedure!

When the helicopter flew off, we finally came inside to get something to eat.

There were quite a few people in the restaurant so because of Covid 19 we kept our masks on until the food arrived.

Yummy - Coconut Shrimp

Outside we took some pictures of the local wildlife. While we were eating we saw some dolphins playing but, of course, by the time we got outside they had disappeared. They were great entertainment though waiting for our food! There was a large flock of pelicans right outside the door 

                                                                          Pelicans

With such a good picture of this gull, you would think I could identify it in my bird books, but guess I'll have to go check with the experts online to help me.

Heading to a nice Sunset!