The Madre & The Padre

The wind is up today, blowing strong from the north, making temps cooler and keeping the birds hunkered down; a good day for a new blog post!

Since last week we’ve done a bit of back road mountain bike exploring in the refuge.  Bow hunting season ended a week ago for white-tailed deer, feral pigs and exotic Nilgai (more on that creature later), so we are free to roam without fear of being a moving target. 

Leon’s quest for pictures of Redhead ducks took us to Horse Island at the north end of the Refuge. Any blondes or brunettes that show up would be a welcome sight, too.... ;-))  After eight miles of dirt road riding we arrive on a naturally elevated ridge of yucca and thicket; one of the very few places with a viewpoint over the Laguna Madre: the only hyper-saline coastal lagoon on the N. American continent. 

View from Horse Island looking south across part of the Laguna

 The Refuge is bound on the east by the Laguna Madre (Mother Lagoon). Across this immense and shallow lagoon, roughly 7 miles away is Padre (Father) Island, the barrier island that shelters it from the currents and storms of the Gulf of Mexico.  Known for its vast sea grass meadows that sustain the thousands of wintering ducks, waders and shorebirds, it's an immense yet sensitive ecosystem, and another dimension of this varied landscape of south coastal Texas.

Its...a.......wild.........decoy.........!!

As we arrive on Horse Island, Redheads and Pintails quickly flee the scene.  Unlike familiar and ubiquitous Mallards of local parks and ponds, wild ducks don’t stick around; keeping a safe distance from humans.  Here at the refuge, they feed in flocks of hundreds.  When they fly, Leon calls Pintails “sky darts”.  See if you agree.

On another morning I sleep in a bit, joining Leon after sunrise out on the Bayside Drive.  The Plover Point overlook, about 3 miles out is a fantastic place to be on the Laguna on a calm morning. Ducks and waders are feeding fairly close, and since the fog is thick, an ethereal calm settles in before the sun breaks through.  Riding the bike here is akin to a desert safari: a foreign place in which one should be ready for the unexpected.

Eastern Meadowlark

White-tailed Hawk

Birth of another yucca bloom