Birding South Padre Island

The South Padre Island Nature and Birding Center is one of my favorite birding places to go. It sits on 50 acres of diverse habitat and I always see something special there.
These Roseate Spoonbills are so different and beautiful.

Cornell All About Birds calls the Roseate Spoonbill a bizarre wading bird of the southern coasts.
They stand just shy three feet tall.
They are gregarious, breeding and traveling in flocks. A group of roseate spoonbills are collectively known as a "bowl" of spoonbills.




This Tri-Colored Heron put on quite a show.




This posed reminded me of the Phantom of the Opera

A White Ibis


Phil and I made some delicious Caramel Popcorn

My Amish Friends Caramel Popcorn

INGREDIENTS:

7 quarts plain popped popcorn 2 cups dry roasted peanuts (optional) 2 cups brown sugar 1/2 cup light corn syrup

1 teaspoon salt 1 cup margarine 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS:

1.	Place the popped popcorn into two shallow greased baking pans. You may use roasting pans, jelly roll pans, or disposable roasting pans. Add the peanuts to the popped corn if using. Set aside.
2.	Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F (120 degrees C). Combine the brown sugar, corn syrup, margarine and salt in a saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring enough to blend. Once the mixture begins to boil, boil for 5 minutes while stirring constantly.
3.	Remove from the heat, and stir in the baking soda and vanilla. The mixture will be light and foamy. Immediately pour over the popcorn in the pans, and stir to coat. Don't worry too much at this point about getting all of the corn coated.
4.	Bake for 1 hour, removing the pans, and giving them each a good stir every 15 minutes. Line the counter top with waxed paper. Dump the corn out onto the waxed paper and separate the pieces. Allow to cool completely, then store in airtight It was like crack popcorn,so addictive! We did share with several people, so we could spread the goodness around. Phil and I are leaving this weekend for MN. Phil has to go there for training before starting a new job somewhere between Colorado City TX and Houston TX. We are not sure how long we are going to be in MN but I'm excited because I have already found some birding spots and state parks, I can go to while he is in training. I'm still reading Laurie King's series on Mary and Sherlock Holmes. This book was very interesting.