Aransas National Wildlife Refuge - Whooping Cranes
March 17th, 2008 by James
Sarah and I got to visit the Whooping Cranes at the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge - something we have wanted to do our entire lives. Just about the best way to see the cranes is aboard a shallow draft birdwatching boat called the Skimmer - operated by Rockport Birding and Kayak Adventures. The boat makes a three hour circuit through part of the refuge and has a viewing platform on the roof for photographers and birdwatchers. On the day we visited the weather was against us - with thick fog limiting visibility to about 200 yards for most of the trip, however we still had a great trip. We did see 8 or 10 individual whooping cranes, which was awesome - watching them picking fiddler crabs left right and center to eat. Other cool stuff: an osprey with a huge mullet, nesting great blue herons, various merganser ducks, buffle head ducks, and lots of different shore birds.
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For those interested, there are now 266 whooping cranes in the Canada-to-Aransas flocks, up from about 100 in the 70’s. The cranes come to Texas in the winter to eat blue crabs and breed - and they can bee seen through about April 1 most years.
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