We had not yet gone to the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, so we invited Dan and Barb. Packing our our picnic lunch we headed there, looking for a day of birding, alligators, and perhaps a snake or armadillo.
It’s a short drive, about 45 minutes, to the refuge which was established to protect the few remaining Whooping Cranes. Their numbers had plummeted to only twenty nine and the Whooping Cranes seemed to be headed for extinction, However, enacting protections, the numbers have slowly rose in the past century and today there are over eight hundred of the tall beautiful birds.
Now there are often whoopers on the Heron Flats Trail or visible from the Observation Tower and so those were the first two places we birded. The Heron Flats Trail is about one and a half miles in length. Walking the trail, you must be aware of both the alligators that cross the hike and be on the lookout for poisonous snakes, (besides being covered for the mosquitoes)!
The small observation platform gave us our first look at the flats, and Barb and Dan spotted either a Virginia Rail or a King Rail. The two birds are very similar in looks, but they were both new birds for their life list and so they added the King Rail. It would also have been a new bird for us but we were both taking pictures of other birds and never saw the rail before it disappeared into the brush.
Hiking down the trail we passed a flock of rosette spoonbills, numerous Great Blue Herons, (some white), and watched a pair of acrobatic Royal terns swooping down on surfacing minnows.
At one point a flock of Greater Kiskadees landed in a bush me and I got a great image!
We were all surprised that there was only one alligator on the brackish ponds and the only other birds we saw were pied billed grebes, Several Eastern Phoebes posed for pictures along with the ever present Northern Mockingbirds.
Our next drive was to the Observation Towers, The tallest tower, has a great view of the waterways and brush covered mud flats. Usually three whooper’s, a family unit, are visible but all we saw were great white herons,
Black vultures, and Eastern Flycatchers. A metal post stood in the saltwater marsh and a Belted Kingfisher scanned the water before diving from its raised platform and making a fast meal of the rising baitfish.
Three beautiful and brightly colored orange mushrooms had grown in a small area surrounded by the parking lot. I took a picture of them but didn’t touch them aware that many of the bright fungi were poisonous.
From the parking lot we turned onto the Eleven Mile Road. At one point we did spot a Golden Fronted Woodpecker which perched long enough for ne to get a focused picture. A little further several cars were stopped and the people had cameras and tripods set up!
It was the place where a Bald Eagle Pair had in past years, unsuccessfully nested and this year the male bird had returned! It was perched high on a dead branch of a towering Live Oak. Preening, it would stop and look at the eerie but we could not see if a female was sitting on eggs, One can hope for a successful hatch and rearing of young.
It has been over forty years since a pair had a successful rearing of eaglets on the refuge.
We didn’t see much else on the drive as everything is parched from the prolonged drought, (we are on stage three water conditions as the local reservoirs are below twenty percent full).
Reaching the main road we made our final stop at Jones Lake. Two alligators were sunning themselves and several Buffalohead ducks tempted fate by swimming near the large gators. A bobcat had been spotted that morning but didn’t appear.
On the way out, Barb spotted an armadillo! It was the first live one we have seen since we arrived in Texas. The armadillos are supposed to taste like pork but they do carry leprosy. Luckily, we don’t carry the genes that make some people susceptible.
Even though we did not spot any whooping cranes, it was a successful day of birding with friends, Babr and Dan have almost as many birds on their life list and Dan is a better photographer that I am so I always try to learn some of his techniques!
Clear skies and Happy New Year!
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