Catching Up

My sister, Valerie, has been with us for a few days so I haven't had time to post and entry and yesterday - all day - we were without Internet.

On Saturday, we met my sister, my nephew and his wife for breakfast in Brownsville. After breakfast we headed back to SPI. We ate lunch at the condo and then after the requisite naps we headed out to the Convention Centre and World Birding Centre to see what birds were there. Valerie got some good pictures with her camera that has a 12X zoom.

We saw lots of species including:
the long-billed curlew,













several herons (this one's a tricoloured heron),













sanderlings,













black skimmers (the black bird with the white neck and big, orange and black beak),














and white ibis.













I made pork chops for dinner and we had a quiet night at home.

Sunday we headed over to the resaca at the university to see what was there. The University of Texas at Brownsville/Southmost College of Texas has a very pretty campus.
































The resaca (oxbow lake) is right in the middle with a bridge over it from one building to another part of the campus. Here is the bridge from which we birdwatched.














Here's the other side of the bridge.













We saw a kiskadee, the anhingas,









































ducks and Fred got to see the green kingfisher.

Back on the island, Valerie treated us for dinner at Jessie's - the best Mexican food on the island.

Monday, Skip and I went for a walk on the beach for an hour. It wasn't too windy and was nice and warm and sunny. After lunch Skip and I went out to do some errands at the post office and the IGA. On the way by a wooded area where birds are known to frequent, we saw about 20 birders there - where no one had been when we were there the other day. Evidently on Sunday a white-crested elaenia had been spotted. The elaenia is a Peruvian bird that for some reason was WAY out of his territory. We spoke to someone who had seen him the day before and he had some fabulous photos of the bird. He heard that someone had driven 18 hours to see the bird and another fellow had come from Austin (7 hours away) to see it. I'm learning that when birders hear of an unusual sighting, it causes a lot of excitement. Back at the condo, Valerie and I went for a walk on the beach. I made a nice chicken dinner with beans and corn. After dinner I was overcome with sleepiness so I went to bed early. I slept through until 8 this morning.

Today, Skip and I went birdwatching at the convention centre while Valerie packed. We saw a sora and a black-crowned night heron as well as the usual dunlins, dowitchers, 40 or so skimmers and a forster's tern. After lunch at Dorado's we headed to the airport to drop Valerie off. It is a cute little airport with free parking (yay!) and two gates. We then headed westward to the Mercedes Premium Outlet Mall. I went nuts at Liz Claiborne and bought 4 summer tops and another one at VanHeusen that was deeply discounted. I was annoyed that the salesperson carried on a telephone conversation during the transaction of the person ahead of me and during my transaction. She did not speak to us at all. It was looking overcast so Skip and I began our trip back to SPI avoiding the expressway. We had dinner at the Lost Galleon Restaurant. Our seniors portions were more than generous and the red beans were DElicious. The couple at the next table recommended them and handed us the recipe on their way out. It's very simple - pinto beans, onions, hickory-smoked bacon, salt and pepper to taste. We'll be making a batch of those babies when we get home.