§ Walking the Mudflats of Packery Channel....

On this morning, I decided to walk along the mudflats behind Packery Channel Park. I had read that the tide was going to be low at that hour, and thought maybe I could spot some shorebirds. Very little activity witnessed, except for the usual suspects of gulls and herons. Several boats and fishermen were out trying their luck on the still waters. So, to keep this mudflat saga a short narration, I will just show some photos from walking.

§ Photo Overload...

If I follow my weekly routine, I would've been home doing laundry on Saturday morning. Instead, I chose to drive to North Padre Island and stop at Whitecap Beach to walk and check out the waves shortly after high tide. Hurricane Grace that made landfall in Old Mexico was supposed to create 8 foot waves for our coast. It didn't pan out. At least while I was at the seawall. And, being Saturday, to boot, seems everyone in the 'hood was there too...like a day of early sales for Christmas...what do they call that? Black Friday? Many many walkers, joggers, dog walkers, people with cellphones aimed at the parallel to catch the first glimpse of the sun breaking the horizon. I was there, disappointed that along the seawall there were no crashing waves.  BUT***

Of course I took photos! And a LOT of them!! Hope the number of photos doesn't make this post slow to load. I apologize up front!

It never fails tho, there is always someone who is foolish enough to drive on this....stuck! It was a young woman [in her early 20s my guess]. I have said this a million times, and will reiterate...there is no common sense seen much anywhere any more!! Cops to the rescue?! Dunno...he left and she was still there when I left. What I can't understand is, there were dozens of capable people, but no one tried to help. I'm too old to push vehicles, but there WERE young whippersnappers!! 4-6 guys coulda had her straighten her front wheels and pushed her to 'drier' ground!

 

Showing many people out and about, and behind me, the pretty pinks in the sky above the dunes...

...and now for my BUT*** seen above.  At one point near the end of the seawall, I used my zoom lens to see if I could view the jetty at packery channel about 1/4 mile away.  I wasn't about to venture off the wall's walkway and get my feet soaked from the ebb tide and playing twister to avoid all the debris washed up on shore from the storm.  Showing the rough breakwater waves crashing!

§ Padre Isles...

On the 'back side' of Packery Channel Park and boardwalk, there is an outlet for kayakers and fishermen to have access to the channel waters. After walking the boardwalk, and then taking a short hike across the park road to a residential area, I then followed the park road to the kayaker's access area and walked the banks of the channel since the tide was out and there was 'beach' to walk on. This is a very heavy with photos blog so the images will be resized to small viewing to load faster. But, you can enlarge them thru the lightbox slideshow if you wish. Just click on the first image [Padre Isles] and you'll hopefully be able to see them bigger...

It's not a day that goes by that I don't see a mockingbird [even if it's in our yard]. But when I do it's usually a rogue, a loner. When I saw these two cavorting around a drip system, I took a photo! They were careful with their antics and watched me for a while and flew off into the bushes beyond. And for those that live up north, we here in the south have flowers blooming year 'round. During the winter months, when there is a lot of cold-weather kill and fields turn brown, the color of wildflowers here and there are a refreshing spot!




After leaving the Audubon sanctuary across from the channel park, I thought I'd venture on the natural path that goes behind the pond [seen in photo series above]. I took about a dozen steps off the observation platform at the water's edge, and froze!! Even if it is a harmless snake in the path, I don't like it one bit. I picked up a handful of sand and tossed it on its backside to get it to move. It didn't! I can tell you right now, if it would have moved I would have continued on my merry way once it was out of the path's path. But, dead or alive, it didn't budge. I turned around and thought..."I'll come back another day". I quickly left the area and walked the Sand Dollar Road of residential homes looking for birds at the owners' feeders. I saw a goat instead...



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I backtracked to the main park road and headed to the channel waters. The sky was moody, the tide was low. You can walk the entire perimeter along the channel and come out to the Park Road 22 [the highway that takes you OVER the bridge causeway to the island/Corpus Christi]. A new starbucks coffee shop is at the end nearby a grove of cypress trees where I spotted an Osprey with it's morning meal on a power line near the pole -look thru the tree line. Then, its a turn-around for me and back the way I came. About 5-6 miles walk totalled that morning...

§ Packery Channel Wildflowers...

...More on my walk.  Once I got back to the car and got a towel from my trunk to dry my hair...I then started heading home.  Just before the causeway to drive over the bridge going over the intercoastal highway [water], I decided to make a short stop at the park and walk the boardwalk, then along Sand Dollar Drive to the Audubon Sanctuary.  I saw one bird in the trees...the lonely hummingbird trying to keep dry. But, I saw lots of color....

§ A Wet Furbaby...Watching its Masters Fishing...

It was an overcast morning, but no threat of rain, when I left home. About five miles down the road a fine mist was falling on my windshield and my plans of going to the island and Port Aransas, were nixed. I did drive to Padre Island and pulled off at the Packery Channel jetty to walk before the rain fell more heavily...I wanted to enjoy the pleasant temperature and maybe see some shore birds while walking. I saw quite a few birds, along with many many brown pelicans feeding in the early morning hour. As the sun tried to break free of the cloud cover, it didn't take long for the storm front to move in. I had a soaked head and damp clothes before I returned to the car, but it was worth it. MUCH better than the wet clothes from the sweat created from high humidity...any day! Some photos look black and white, but the mist makes some images appear so,...they're all color, just moody like the weather. Here's some of what I saw...

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Arriving home, I decided a warm pan of apple dumplings would be good with our evening meal of Polish Sausage, potato salad, and a tossed salad. Yummy.
By the way, did you know that cinnamon in your diet lowers blood pressure? My nutritionist, after my heart attack, told me that cinnamon is very heart healthy. So many benefits from consuming cinnamon; not only heart but diabetes, etc....click here for 10 proven facts.