A Flock of Ten Whooping Cranes, November 28th, 2025

We had heard that the Whooping Cranes had arrived in Lamar. They usual are here by mid to late October but we had only had reports of three present in the field alongside St Charles Bay. Nearing Eighth Street we saw stopped cars and as we turned south we spotted a group of ten! It’s unusual to see so many in one spot, this flock was composed of eight adults and two colts, (young of the year with brown and white plumage). The colts are given that name as they prance around after leaving the nest. By the time they are here in Texas we usually see them with their heads down feeding voraciously after the long flight from northern Canada.

The adults were calling to each other, with their necks stretched out straight up into the sky. There were numerous calls, or warnings, and it was a vocal fight of ownership of the field.

Pairs and then a single bird decided to look elsewhere for their own territory, (each family will claim an area of about one and a half miles. Two took off and flew south to a feeder located in a field edged with cattails.

The single flew in circles, and another pair took off, heading towards the back bay. We often see a pair when we kayak St Charles Bay and travel by motorboat to Dunham’s Bay. The latter bay borders the Intracoastal. The intracoastal is filled with barges which the Whooping Cranes ignore. It’s an area called the Blackjack Peninsula. The Aransas Wildlife Refuge owns most of the area and frequently sets controlled burns. The whoopers follow the fires and feed on exposed snakes, (The snakes are a safely killed by the cranes and are then swallowed whole). At one point two families Males, approached each other. They then raised their necks and squared off as if to fight. However, one of the pairs backed off and leapt into the air looking for a more welcome place.

There were numerous Whooping Cranes flying around us, before disappearing over the trees. Three sandhill cranes stood by and watched the departures, (they are smaller, shorter, than the Whoopers), and will push their luck before backing off when challenged.

The adult Whoopers are a fearsome opponent, a little over five feet tall, and have been documented as killing a feral hog which approached their young. The adult had hit the pig in the head and had killed it instantly. That’s how strong their beaks are! We decided to drive to 12th street hoping for a closer view, but we couldn’t find one. Several Rosette Spoonbills perched in a tree, and an American Kestrel preened itself near Big Tree.

Having had a great morning birding, it was time to head back to our fifth wheel to upload the pictures and rest up for the nights card game of Joker and Pegs. Clear skies. Ps If you want to see Whooping Cranes up close. Go to the small town of Lamar and drive along St Charles Bay. They are a lot closer than you will usually find them at the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge

Wading Whooping Cranes at Lamar

Pam and Roy joined us for a birding trip to Lamar. Its only seven miles from our Blue Lagoons Rv Park, and so after crossing the Copano Bay Bridge we turned right and drove to St Charles Bay. The water was extremely low as a strong cold front, with high winds blew the water out. The tides are very small here, so the Coastal Winds and offshore storms are the determiner of the water levels. Reaching Eight Street we spotted three Whooping Cranes wading and feeding on objects in the water.

Renita got a picture of the family group and on the right, the young Whooper had a small crab in its beak. Bluer crabs are a great food along with fish and other seafood.

As we watched they dipped their beaks but did not catch any large blue crabs, (it is amazing watching them using their beaks to easily open a large crab). It has been verified that a Whooping Crane killed a feral hog by driving its beak into its skull!

The birds started wading further out and the male turned as if to say hurry up! We decided to leave the magnificent birds alone, (they are five feet tall) and drove further along the road. Turning the corner near Big Tree an American Kestrel perched on a Palm Tree Branch.

Its feathers were ruffed up and it had turned its back to the wind. Parking at Big Tree, located on twelfth street, we walked around the tree watching for other birds, but we didn’t spot any.

I got a picture of Renita and Pam looking at the tree and you can see they are bundled up!

As we drove back along the beachfront two American White Pelicans flew over head and we both got good pics.

A little further and a flock of Sandhill Cranes fed and a flock of seven Whooping Cranes flew across the sky.

We love taking photos of flying birds and of course to get pictures of the endangered Whooping Cranes is always a special treat!

Whooping Cranes in Lamar, the no trespassing signs are up!

We are finally getting settled in Texas and we took a drive to Lamar looking to see the whooping cranes. On the way we passed the Linda S, Carver Bird Sanctuary, which is part of the Aransas Pathways. Our friends Barb and Dan go there often and it’s a nice place for a quick visit, looking for migrating birds, As usual, we had difficulties with the wading birds, Each year we spend time refreshing our memories on the types of shorebirds, (we often make mistakes so please feel free to correct us) Our first stop was at the covered observation deck. There Northern cardinals landed in the trees and popped in and out of the dense foulage,

We did spot a tufted titmouse and perhaps an immature painted bunting, (lousy picture). Before we left a forester tern flew over the pond and got a shot of it in the air.

Down the path we did notice the huge fire ant mounds which are sonneting every Texas visitor needs to learn how to stay away from. Successfully avoiding them we took a few pictures of what I first thought were lesser juvenile yellow legs.

Mottled ducks swam by along with some green wing teal, and others, (time for the bird book) A great blue heron and a snowy egret were also present, but I couldn’t get a decent picture of the snowy. Returning to the car we did spot an eastern kingbird. Our next stop was across Copano Bay to the town of Lamar. We looked but didn’t see any scissor tails, but a deer did burst out of the thick woods and eagle eye Renita missed it. Driving along the Beach we passed the point where alligators reside, but we didn’t see any. The bird/deer feeders weren’t working yet as apparently no one is filling them. Turning up Eighth Street we saw cars stopping and there were three whooping cranes.

It was a family group with a new colt, which is a name for the brown spotted young bird, (they are called colts because of the their rambunctious behavior. We noticed several sandhill cranes and it was obvious the young whooper was staring at them, whoopers do not like to share their feeding areas with other large birds and the male will often chase them away, Even getting into fight when other whooping cranes that land in their territory, (each whooper family claims an area of about one to two miles).

As we watched Renita spotted a flock of about ten rosette spoonbills, a great white Heron

, and I got a shot of a reddish egret in the background. The next bird we spotted was an American Kestral, perching on a wire.

The water level is high from coastal flooding and in a normally dry spot sanderlings and a willet, shared the bonanza of the rarely flooded area. It was a short trip and so we headed back to our fifth wheel. It’s quite a bit smaller than our Cavco Park Model, but like any small space, quite livable, with air conditioning, the temps and humidity are too high for us to enjoy afternoons outside, (it usually cools off for happy hour. Clear skies

Yellowstone 2024 Grizzlies and a New Life Bird

Each year we look forward to the Cody, Wyoming Wild West Arts Festival. It’s three days of parades and fun and we set up our booth to sell our Jewelry. We always plan on a few extra days to enjoy the surrounding area by making day trips to Yellowstone National Park. This year was an exceptional year as we spotted a new bird for a life list and encountered three grizzly bears. Our friends Fred and Becky had already made a trip to Yellowstone and had encountered several Harlequin ducks. These ducks are small sea ducks that nest in areas with rapids. They had told us that the ducks were located at Le Hardy Rapids. As we drove through Yellowstone, I spotted the sign for the rapids, and we parked in the lot hoping that the Harlequinn ducks were still there. As we walked down the short trail, we could see them perched and resting on a flat rock! We were both elated to see the beautiful ducks and told other visitors, (they did not seem terribly impressed, definitely not birders).

Continuing our drive, we hoped to see some black bears and perhaps a grizzly. The day before we had encountered a bear jam where a sow and her new coy, (new cub of the year), put on a show. The bear has been given the name Raspberry and her new cub is called Snow. The sow was grazing in open spaces between fallen trees and it was comical watching the cub keeping up with mamma bear. Raspberry didn’t have any problems crossing the log jams, but each fallen tree was an almost insurmountable problem for the little cub. It would pull itself up and then lose its balance as it fell off the fallen timber.

Still, it managed to tag along, and we watched them for forty-five minutes before they disappeared in a cove of fallen timber. The next day we drove back but just missed the pair and so we headed to the Hayden Valley and Lamar Valleys. We didn’t see any bears at Hayden Valley, but it was filled with Buffalo.

Many of the bull bison were dusting themselves in dried wallows to give them some relief from insects. At one spot the bull was very near the road, and it glared at us as we quickly stopped to take its picture.

Forgetting us it rolled over in the dried ground creating a cloud of dust!

What a sight. We decided it was time to go even though we were at least twenty-five yards away, which is the required distance to safely view the huge animals. Passing Canyon Village and Tower Junction we decided to drive up the Lamar Valley looking for bears and wolves. The valley was full of buffalo herds, but we didn’t spot much else. However a coyote posed right next to the road.

Further on we used our binoculars to glass the canyon walls and spotted several mountain goats. They were so far away that you really couldn’t see much, just a white goat shaped object. Reaching the Northeast entrance we passed through Cooke City and then Silver Gate. As we left Siver Gate we saw about twenty people watching something.

The something was the largest Grizzly bear we have seen in quite a while. It was grazing about one hundred yards away and we didn’t get a great image as it was surrounded by bushes. It finally disappeared into the brush and several people decided that they would try to push the bear back into an open area for more pictures. What could go wrong? We decided to leave as we didn’t like their idea. Continuing we turned right and drove the Chief Joesph Highway. At a rest area you can walk out to enjoy the view of a steep and narrow canyon. It had been a great two days with new life birds and a huge grizzly bear. Of course, any trip into Yellowstone is always filled with memories of wildlife and scenic views to calm ones soul. Clear skies

The Whooping Cranes at Lamar, Texas, and a white-tailed kite

We, (Barb Dan, Renita, and I), decided to cross the Copano Bay Bridge and photograph the Whooping cranes that winter in Lamar, Texas. It’s a short drive from our rv park, (about nine miles), and friends had reported seeing as many as eighteen whooping cranes in the fields along St Charles Bay. The population of whooping cranes last year was five hundred and forty-two(about). Eighteen whooping cranes would be like seeing thirty grizzly bears in a day in Grand Teton National Park, (the most we have ever seen is eight). Usually, any whooping crane family controls about a mile and a half of territory and fights any others trying to fly in. So the question is, what’s going on?

The answer is of course the feeders. They are timed to release deer food which the whooping cranes also love. The whoopers wait by the feeders in several different areas. They also feed on cattle forage and are not bothered by the cows. They also try to chase away sandhill cranes, which are smaller, so the fields of Lamar are a busy place. Driving to Lamar we turned down fourth street.

A resident alligator laid in the backyard of a house, (and we later learned that as many as five warm up in the mowed grass). The cattails blocked our view of the first feeder. Turning left we passed eighth street and saw the whoopers. Pulling over we counted twenty of the huge cranes, besides a flock of sandhills. Twenty is the most we have ever seen in one day, and they seemed to tolerate each other.

We have seen the immature whoopers form large flocks of as many as eight, but these were not all what we call teenagers. There were at least two-family groups with a colt, this year’s hatchling. The colts still have many brown feathers and a brown head. A family usually has one of the adults watching for danger while the other adult and the colt feed. Besides looking for predators, (an adult whooping crane has been documented as killing a feral hog with a single blow of it’s sharp bill to the pigs head.

As we watched the whooping cranes, a flight of about thirty roseate spoon bills landed in the pond. Two others perched in a tree, and a long billed dowitcher landed near us.

At one point two of the immature whooping cranes headed to the herd of cattle, but an adult whooping crane ran them off and chasing them back. Next, wo more whoopers flew in and several of the whoopers lifted the heads straight up and let out warning calls.

The new whoopers didn’t care and landed a little distance away.

They then fed and slowly walked towards the others which is pretty unusual as the dominant birds will often charge the newcomers, raising their wings and even attacking them with their beaks, (unusual but we did, in an earlier blog, post a picture of such a whooping crane fight).

There were quite a few other birders on the roads and so we decided to drive over to Big Tree. Renita was driving slowly when I suddenly yelled stop as I saw a small hawk.

It had a white head, tail, and underside! It was a white-tailed kite, which are usually only seen further south. It was only the second time we have ever spotted one.

Walking around Big Tree we saw monarch butterfies,

(which are usually far south by this time and a swallowtail butterfly.

What a day! Twenty whooping cranes and a white-tailed kite. We also met and talked with other birders, including one who leads birding adventures three days a week. Anytime you can bird with an expert is an opportunity you should not pass up! So many endangered birds in close proximity is dangerous, One worries that they could easily spread the avian bird flu throughout the flock. One way to prevent this is to stop feeding the whoopers, with deer feeders. This would cause them to spread out and seek their normal food, preventing a disaster. Why doesn’t the US Fish and Wildlife and the Texas Game and Fish Department step up? Clear skies

Osprey stare down, Whoopers at Lamar, and Rosette Spoonbills

It been a while since our last entry, because we have been finishing jewelry and necklaces for our space at the Gulf Coast Gem and Mineral Show. It’s the Gulf Coast Gem and Mineral's 60th Show, and as usual will be held at the Fairgrounds in Robstown, Texas. We decided we needed a break and so we grabbed our cameras for a quick trip to Lamar. There are not many places in the world where such beautiful and endangered species are so easy to spot. After crossing the Copano Bay Bridge we headed down along St Charles Bay and found three whooping cranes watching a feeder.

As you can see one is telling the others something but as we don’t speak bird language we can only guess… Leaving the three cranes we next headed to Eighth Street where we spotted a large flock of Rosette Spoonbills with immature sand hill cranes feeding among them.

The spoonbills are in their breeding colors, which are shades of bright pink, a palette of unique colors in nature. You can also see that a couple of the birds have claimed a spot for their nests.

Driving further we had a stare down with an osprey, watching us as we took its picture.

Ospreys always seem to have a glare on their face as they decide if you prey that is just too big to eat.

As we watched another set of whoopers. we saw one doing its stretch. It’s a common whooper stretch that they often engage in after taking an afternoon siesta. There were a lot of people around, (President’s Day), and so we didn’t see much else. An Eastern peewee hunted near Big Tree but didn’t pose long enough for a good picture.

Reaching the shoreline, we saw a woman flyfishing but she didn’t catch any fish while we watched. Four kayakers were also fishing but again we didn’t see any sign of action. Still it was a productive birding trip and a good break from our jewelry benches, (a tv table in front of the couch and the dining table. Today we are going to Robstown to set up. Clear skies