First thing today, we checked out the South Padre Island Convention Center, which is supposed to be a good spot. It was. It’s right on the water, and strolling in the sands we saw BLACK SKIMMERS and a BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER. It would have been nice to see a skimmer actually skimming, but we did see it actually being black (and white and orange), which is something.

Plenty of birders were ogling the shrubbery near the center, so we joined them, managing to see a BLACKPOLL WARBLER, a SCARLET TANAGER, and a TENNESSEE WARBLER. In a year or two, the convention center is going to become the World Birding Center, which sounds pretty highfalutin’. But what that means beyond a gift shop, I can’t tell you. At present, though, they’ve built a nice walkway through the marsh to the water, and that’s where I digiscoped the osprey. There’s a large water tower nearby, and a nice old couple pointed out a small hawk perched high up on one of its railings. With a scope, it proved to be a PEREGRINE FALCON.

The rest of the day was devoted to Laguna Atascosa NWR. As soon as we came in, I was lucky enough to see a green jay, a species I had missed yesterday. We explored the area near the visitor center, and sat for a while in a low, dark blind. There Pole saw the species she missed yesterday, the golden-fronted woodpecker. We also got a WHITE-TIPPED DOVE. At a spot nearby, we saw what we first thought was a Brown Thrasher, but after considering range and the bill, we decided it was a LONG-BILLED THRASHER.

We hopped back in the car, and the rest of the day was spent driving around the refuge, which is pretty damn huge. At one point, Pole spotted a large feline dashing across the road in front of us. We caught up with it and followed it as it slowly trotted along. It proved to be a bobcat. And boy, did it look miserable, emaciated and panting in the hot Texas sun. (Need I say that it was another blistering day?) The refuge had seen better times, too. There’s been a bad drought in the area, and many of the lagoons and ponds were dry as a bone. We wondered what the bobcat was eating, and sadly watched it disappear into the scrub. I hope it killed something, because — sorry to be mammal-centric — it was worth a hundred thrashers.

As we drove around the refuge, we stopped here and there, picking up new bird one at a time, including:

NORTHERN BOBWHITE
WILSON’S PLOVER
BROWN-CRESTED FLYCATCHER
CURVE-BILLED THRASHER
WHITE-TAILED HAWK

I missed two of these: the bobwhite disappeared before I got out the the car, and the thrasher was on Pole’s side, and I could never get a bead on it.

The last bird of the day was the wonderful PLAIN CHACHALACA, which we saw on a last walk around the visitor center. We saw another as we drove out, and heard its crazy call, which goes — well, you can guess. This day added 14 birds to the list, 9 lifers for Pole, 9 (with the jay) for me.

And here, for misery’s sake, is another shot of the bobcat: