Friends of Padre Beach Report 4/29/2015

Friends of Padre beach report: April 29, 2015 Partly cloudy throughout the day, NW winds 20mph in the morning diminishing to 10 mph in the afternoon. Water temperature: 74 degrees F Driving is still difficult due to the large amount of natural debris that is still present, mainly large branches and logs. At low tide the sand is hard packed but super bumpy, with loose blow sand filling the ruts in the high road. Water clarity started off sandy green in the morning and then clearing up with the incoming tide and as the day continued. Surf varied throughout the day but started decreasing as the day went on. No bait activity was observed; didn’t see any birds working or bait jumping the length of the beach. Other fishermen reported large whiting are plentiful and one man had a couple of shark runs. Picked up 3 abandoned EZ-up canopies. Please do not leave these on the beach if you choose to bring one. They do not hold up to the wind, sand, and salt on the beach and eventually end up being an eyesore on the beach. Speed limit is still 15 mph the length of the beach. Birds sighted: Spotted Sandpiper: 8 Black Phoebe: 1 White Tail Hawk: 2 Caracara: 2 Skimmer: 1 Long-Billed Curlew: 1 American Oystercatcher: 1 Black-Necked Stilt: 1 Herring Gulls Laughing Gulls Ring-Billed Gulls Royal Terns Forster’s Tern Least Terns Brown Pelican s Blue Herons Black Bellied Plovers Willets Sanderlings Ruddy Turnstone Cormorants Cattle Egrets Barn Swallows Turkey Vultures Blue-Winged Teal Cowbirds