South Padre Island is a strange mix of over-developed beach resort and migrant trap. There are a couple of small patches of habitat that are being managed to benefit birds, and cash in on birders who seem to be the only people apart from Spring Break students and conference attendees that seem to come here. There wasn't much at the small patch of mangrove and reed bed that comprises the reserve. Best birds were; the half dozen or so
Pectoral Sandpipers on the main scrape, a similar number of
Redhead in the same spot, a
Reddish Egret feeding in the shallows just past the mangroves.
Just north of the reserve is a patch of beach where it's possible to approach quite close to a roosting flock of terns, with a few waders scattered along the shore. This was more interesting. The bulk of the birds were
Black Skimmers and
Royal Terns, but there were a few
Cabot's Tern (recently split from Sandwich Tern) and one
Caspian Tern. The waders were mostly
Dunlin, with a few
Short-billed Dowitchers and a
Marbled Godwit.
Cabot's (Sandwich) Tern. One bird appears to be offering the other a fish, possibly a mating ritual.
Caspian Tern
Dunlin
Marbled Godwit
Short-billed Dowitcher
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