Padre Island National Seashore

Here at the Traveler we put our heads together to come up with a list of where best to watch wildlife in the National Park System. We're sure you can help us grow this list.

Across the National Park System there are successes to note in pulling species back from the brink of extinction. But there also are stories to lament.

Not since record keeping began two decades ago have as many Kemp's ridley sea turtles come ashore to nest at Padre Island National Seashore in one day as the 29 that turned up the other day, according to seashore biologists.

Handling endangered and threatened species and off-road vehicles, scalping campsite reservations, and the interpreting of parks by smartphone are among the things to wonder about in the wake of National Park Week.

Relatively small in size, and easily camouflaged in the beach sand, the Kemp's ridley sea turtle didn't come ashore at Padre Island National Seashore to bask in the sun, but rather to lay her clutch of eggs and retreat to the Gulf of Mexico in less than an hour.

Seen any heroes down at the beach lately? The folks at Oceana, a non-profit that works to protects oceans, are looking for some heros.

Seasonal migrations offer special opportunities to see wildlife herding and flocking, leaving, passing through, and arriving in our national parks.

In the first wave of what likely could prove to be thousands, 45 sea turtle hatchlings have been released into the Atlantic Ocean, hundreds of miles from where their eggs were laid on Gulf of Mexico beaches.

The Center for Biological Diversity, which earlier this summer threatened to sue federal officials and BP over Kemp’s ridley sea turtles being killed in oil fires, now is going after Interior Secretary Ken Salazar for failing to assess how the Deepwater Horizon oil spill is impacting endangered whales and sea turtles in the Gulf of Mexico.

Groups that threatened to sue BP and the U.S. Coast Guard over endangered Kemp's ridley sea turtles being killed in oil fires in the Gulf of Mexico announced Friday that they reached an accord to protect the turtles.

Claims that endangered Kemp's ridley sea turtles are being burned alive under efforts to clean up oil from the Deepwater Horizon disaster have prompted two groups to sue BP and the U.S. Coast Guard.

With "Alex," the first June hurricane identified in the Atlantic since 1995, knocking on its doorstep, Padre Island National Seashore has been closed to the public.

Despite the presence of tar balls and tar mats in the waters off Padre Island National Seashore, biologists have released more than 100 Kemp's ridley sea turtle hatchlings into the Gulf of Mexico.

The lightning whelk, a sea snail with a lovely southpaw shell, is very proficient at finding, opening, and eating clams.

Through a gift of nature that guides them the seas, dozens of highly endangered Kemp's ridley sea turtles have made their way to the sandy beaches of Padre Island National Seashore to lay thousands of eggs. And many showed up on the same day.

Hoping to raise the nation's -- and politicians' -- awareness of the rich resources in the Gulf of Mexico, two environmental groups Wednesday released a list of 15 state and federal properties that could be fouled by oil from the Deepwater Horizon disaster.

As millions of gallons of crude oil continue to flow into the Gulf of Mexico from the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe, the National Park Foundation is mounting a campaign to raise money to help national park units affected by the disaster.

The Kemp's ridley may be little as sea turtles go, but it's got big problems. It was already the world's most endangered marine turtle before the mammoth Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico threatened to wreak havoc on its vital habitat.

This coming Friday, May 21, is Endangered Species Day. It is a day to both celebrate the amazing successes achieved for wildlife protection ... and to reflect on the work still left to be done.

Against fears that the white-sand beaches of Gulf Islands National Seashore soon might be darkened by an oily slick from the Deepwater Horizon disaster, natural gas production flows quietly from Padre Islands National Seashore.

With ocean currents, winds, and weather the powers behind the movements of the sprawling oil slick created by the Deepwater Horizon disaster, personnel at national parks along the Gulf Coast can only watch, wait, and prepare for the worst.

Call it long overdue housekeeping, but the National Park Service is working to revise 30-year-old regulations that affect non-federal oil and gas development that could occur, or already is occurring, in some of its units. In other words, energy development within a park on lands owned by anyone other than the federal government, such as states or even private landowners. The bottom-line of the revisions is to better protect parks from energy development.

If you're headed to Padre Island National Seashore in Texas, leave Fido at home. The park is advising visitors not to bring dogs to the beach until further notice, after several reports of illness and deaths of coyotes and dogs.

While Padre Island National Seashore doesn’t overflow with college students in spring as does its neighbor, South Padre Island, the national seashore nevertheless is a popular gathering spot for awkward-looking visitors. From November to early spring, the seashore becomes a temporary home to sandhill cranes.

If you've recently visited any of the national parks in Florida, or the national seashores on the Gulf Coast, or even Channel Islands National Park, Cape Lookout National Seashore, or Cape Hatteras National Seashore, you might wonder why all the fuss over the removal of the brown pelican from the Endangered Species List.

Officials at Padre Island National Seashore are cautioning visitors about the occurrence of the natural phenomenon known as "red tide." The situation is causing a significant fish kill and officials are warning visitors about possible hazards to people and pets.

Quick, pick an ocean setting for next summer's national park vacation. Are you heading to the Northeast, the Northwest, or looking South or somewhere else for your destination?

The Unilever-sponsored National Parks America Tour, a volunteer program with over 25 scheduled stops in the national parks this year, has organized a beach cleanup at Padre Island National Seashore for Saturday, October 18. The huge volume of storm debris left by last month’s Hurricane Ike has been very difficult to deal with and continues to wash ashore daily.

Hurricane Ike storm debris has drifted southwest along the Texas Gulf Coast and littered the beaches at Padre Island National Seashore. Cleaning it up is a mammoth task that must be done quickly. Protecting seashore wildlife is a major concern.