Sep 02 2016
By ALEXANDRA BROTZMAN Special to the PRESS For September’s plant of the month, the Keep SPI Beautiful Committee has chosen the Rio Grande Butterfly Bush. Also known as the Tepozán, this shrub is from the Buddlejaceae (Loganiaceae) family. The scientific name is Buddlejasessiliflora. The Butterfly Bush is a native plant to the area, growing up to …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.portisabelsouthpadre.com/2016/09/02/plant-of-the-month-tepozan/
Sep 02 2016
By JAVIER GONZALEZ Special to the PRESS “World Shorebirds Day”, a yearly event coming up on its 3rd anniversary, is a global effort to raise public awareness about shorebirds, their ecology and life cycles, and the need for ongoing shorebird research and conservation. Shorebirds, in a nut shell, are a varied group of birds found world-wide in …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.portisabelsouthpadre.com/2016/09/02/life-on-the-boardwalk-world-shorebirds-day/
Aug 26 2016
By STEVE HATHCOCK Special to the PRESS Back in 2007 I bought a canvas bag full of pennies from a man who had accumulated them over the past couple of decades. He tried to exchange them for currency at his bank but was told that large amounts of coins had to be in rolls in order …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.portisabelsouthpadre.com/2016/08/26/rio-history-getting-her-two-cents-worth/
Aug 26 2016
By DINA ARÉVALO Port Isabel-South Padre Press editor@portisabelsouthpadre.com A sharp, high pitched whistle pierced the air somewhere above my head. I smiled even before I looked up. Though I hadn’t heard it in several months, that sound was one I recognized quite well. It was the call of an osprey. I looked up and sure enough, …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.portisabelsouthpadre.com/2016/08/26/writers-block-the-ospreys-are-back/
Aug 19 2016
By STEVE HATHCOCK Special to the PRESS The word ambergris is derived from the French “amber gris” or grey amber. The indigestible beaks of squid, favored food of sperm whales, irritate the digestive system, producing a raw waxy material that is ejected by sperm whales. After being vomited out, the dark substance turns to light gray …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.portisabelsouthpadre.com/2016/08/19/rio-history-the-straight-poop-on-ambergris/
Aug 12 2016
By STEVE HATHCOCK Special to the PRESS My longtime readers will remember Kay Lay’s and my Beachcomber’s Museum of local and natural history located in our bookstore-coffee pub on South Padre Island. Kay and I ran the museum quite successfully from around 2002 to 2009 when we to packed it away while we remodeled our building. …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.portisabelsouthpadre.com/2016/08/12/rio-history-japanese-fishing-floats/
Aug 12 2016
By DINA ARÉVALO Port Isabel-South Padre Press editor@portisabelsouthpadre.com Last Friday, the people of Rio de Janeiro ushered in one of my favorite sports spectacles, the summer Olympics, with a colorful Latino flair. A two-week long event which occurs only once every four years, this Olympiad is nonetheless one of many firsts. It’s the first Olympics to …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.portisabelsouthpadre.com/2016/08/12/writers-block-olympic-fever/
Aug 05 2016
By JAVIER GONZALEZ Special to the PRESS The tides have a profound effect on Coastal habitats. The force of the water as it rises into (flood tide) and falls out of (ebb tide) the salt marsh and salt flats stirs up a great diversity of micro and macro organisms that in turn trigger a feeding …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.portisabelsouthpadre.com/2016/08/05/life-on-the-boardwalk-birding-the-tides/
Jul 29 2016
By DINA ARÉVALO Port Isabel-South Padre Press editor@portisabelsouthpadre.com Saturday was a special day for quite a number of people around the Rio Grande Valley. At animal shelters not only across the Valley, but nationwide, Saturday marked the annual “Clear the Shelter” animal adoption drive — an attempt to find homes for as many pets as possible. …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.portisabelsouthpadre.com/2016/07/29/writers-block-welcome-to-the-family/
Jul 29 2016
By STEVE HATHCOCK Special to the PRESS Yes, there are stingrays along the beaches of Padre Island …and yes, people do get stuck by them. Stingrays are actually a specialized branch-off of early sharks. They will eat almost anything they can catch, including clams, crabs and shrimp. The females are the largest, sometimes measuring six feet …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.portisabelsouthpadre.com/2016/07/29/rio-history-stingrays-and-giant-mantas-of-the-gulf-of-mexico/
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