Padre Island National Seashore....

One morning, bright and early I drove to Padre Island National Seashore. The 30 mile drive from home, as I entered the grasslands of the Federal Park, I saw several hawks [white tailed], but they were perched on the power lines with the sun behind them, giving me no photo ops. I was able to get a decent photo of the Caracara and the singing Eastern Meadowlark along the road a few miles from the park's entrance gate...

CRESTED CARACARA
habitat map: Caracara



EASTERN MEADOWLARK
habitat map: Meadowlark

....once I parked at the end of the road on the beach [at the end, there is no place to go with a 2 wheeled vehicle...you're ON THE BEACH], I didn't see many birds other than the usual, seagulls, willets, and sandpipers. On the dunes, an egret posed for me. The closer I got to it, the more threatened it was, as you can tell by its stance. But, it didn't fly off; it remained on the dune...

REDDISH EGRET  [white morph}
habitat map:  Egret

After a couple hours, walking, I returned to my car and left for home....stopping at the duck pond and the new bird blind. I saw only grebes and a couple of ducks on the pond. But as I watched for more birds, I was soon distracted by a couple of Harriers! They'd fly overhead, dive down behind the dunes and reappear farther away.

NORTHERN HARRIER
habitat map: Harrier

...getting back in the car, I drove out of the park land and saw nothing along the highway at the time...Except for when I reached the residential area, just before a horse ranch, I saw this hawk at a far distance and I pulled off onto the shoulder of the road, rolled down the passenger window and aimed my camera just as it decided to fly off...

WHITE TAILED HAWK
habitat map: Hawk



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