Bird's Eye View - Padre Island

Our son, Blake, spent most of his childhood making a family trip each winter to the Rio Grande Valley to visit his grandmother. On almost every trip, we made the drive to "The Island." So of course, we drove to Padre Island while he was visiting us this year. And of course, we took the obligatory pictures at the beach.

We didn't have a blue-sky day for a beach trip, but honestly the clouds kept it from being too hot. We have to include a picture of Mark and Blake together at the Gulf. They are the same height and the same shape!

Even though we had just visited Padre Island with a couple of 90-year-old women, it's a totally different adventure when visiting with a 29-year-old. We had a four-mile walk on the Gulf side of the island, where we got a bird's eye view of the water.

We had just read an article about trash that looks like a tangle of red or yellow electrical wires that is washing ashore. The article went on to say that it is not trash--it is actually sea whip. Sea whip is a soft coral that comes in a variety of colors. It was interesting that we saw a single strand of sea whip on our walk on the beach today. Yes, we would have assumed that was a strand of electrical wire if we hadn't just read that article.

Denisa took way too many pictures as we got a bird's eye view of the beach.

Besides our four-mile walk in the sand, we went to the Laguna Nature boardwalk on the bay side of the island. Known for its great bird sightings, we immediately found a very friendly white heron,

and a blue heron hanging out on the boardwalk.

But the real fun happened when the nature walk took us to the edge of the bay. We got a bird's eye view of this rich feeding ground among the shore trees where many water birds were enjoying the day.

It's here that we found a big flock of roseated spoonbill, with their  signature rose-colored wings . . .

and spoon-shaped bills. They were busy spooning up some yummy treats off the shallow floor of the bay.

Denisa loves the pink reflection in the water as we got these great bird's eye views.

If you look closely at the roseated spoonbill pictures, you'll also see lots of other water birds, like handsome ducks and this white ibis.

We also enjoyed the bird's eye view of these black skimmers flying down to skim their over-sized bills through the water. Their lower mandible is longer than the upper, allowing them to skim their prey out of the water as they fly over.

We got a front row seat to get a bird's eye view of several of the water birds hanging out in the bay.

Meanwhile, the Roseated Spoonbills have tired of snacking in the water, and they are flapping their big pink wings for a clumsy landing in the top of one of the trees on the shore.

We're not sure why the whole flock flocked to the top of that little tree, but it gave us another interesting bird's eye view.

Denisa could have stayed all day, watching all the antics of the gulls and ducks and ibis and spoonbills and herons and . . .

But we had other stops to make on the island. This is home to the Sea Turtle Rescue center, and we found painted turtle statues all over Padre Island.

We also took Blake by the sand sculpture display that we had enjoyed with our older companions a couple weeks ago. This Christmas-themed "Joy to the World" sand statue had wonderful details that fit right into this island theme.

Since Denisa enjoys picking up sea shells, you might guess that she also enjoys the details of the "sand shells" that make up the base of the mermaid's display. 

No trip to Padre would be complete without a stop at Dairy Queen. We ate our ice cream while walking along the bay to get another bird's eye view of the pelicans and gulls that call this island home.

We stopped through Port Isabell for fish tacos. Because Denisa is a sucker for a good lighthouse, we also made a stop here on our way home.

We had another great day on Padre with Blake, getting a bird's eye view of the island's feathery residents.