Rain Forest In Texas

Sign posted in the entrance.

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to walk through a tropical rain forest? Well, we got the chance while in Galveston. There is a resort called the Moody Gardens that has 3 pyramids on the premises, one of which houses an incredible rain forest. After paying your admission, as you walk down the hallway to enter the forest, you are surrounded by the sounds of frogs, insects, monkeys and other creatures. Turn the final corner and you step onto a platform that drips and drops with the sound of rain falling on the leaves and forest floor. Your next steps take you a wall of hanging “vines” (ropes) and into another world.

Bearded Barbet

The first thing you notice is the heat and humidity. It is, after all, a tropical rain forest. Our cameras immediately fogged up, which was a problem because there was a beautiful bird on a limb just in front of us that we were trying to photograph. 

Scarlet Ibis

Eventually the cameras un-fogged but our sweat glands continued to work overtime. 

Blue Bellied Roller (pic stolen from internet as I was never quick enough to get them in flight).

Guira Cuckoo showing off.

The birds are the major attraction in the rain forest and there are some pretty spectacular specimens. We were up close and personal to all but one who had, apparently, become too “human friendly” and was caged for his own good.

Crocodile Monitor

There are plenty of reptiles on exhibit as well but, happily for me, most were in glass cages. The Crocodile Monitor was on display in the forest itself but he was behind wire. 

Colorful Macaws

Blue Macaws

Several beautiful Macaws perch on limbs planted in the middle of a pond and seem to be quite happy just preening and watching the people walk by. 

A stack of turtles!

The pond itself is stocked with fish, 3 different types of Sting Rays and a couple varieties of Turtle.

Circling around the pool and inside a viewing area with glassed in critters, one has the pleasure of walking behind a waterfall.

One special area is the home to a number of different butterfly species but there were few out. I suspect it is because it is winter. We saw a couple munching on fruit plates but the best picture I was able to get was of a Monarch on the ground outside that was clearly too cold to fly!

Egyptian Fruit Bat in his favorite position.

Other inhabitants of the rain forest were Fruit Bats, 

Cotton Top0 Tamarin

a Chinese Alligator and an Ocelot we were never able to locate in their enclosures, a few Monkeys and a tiny antelope called a Blue Duiker (though I don’t know why they named it that as it was quite brown in color).

Everywhere were huge tropical plants and beautiful orchids. It was a wonderful way to spend a chilly afternoon.

Whoopers!

One of the main reasons we had for visiting Corpus Christi was to see the Whooping Cranes that migrate to the area from Canada every year.

A sunny day in Rockport, TX

After much rain and cold weather in the Corpus area, a dry day between cold fronts was finally predicted so we quickly booked a boat excursion to the Aransas Wildlife Refuge. For once the weatherman was right and we had a beautiful, sunny day.

As we left the dock and motored out of the marina, our captain provided a little history about the Rockport/ Port Aransas area and then we were off to see the birds. After 7 months, it felt great to be on the water again, even if we were in a steel powerboat.

The Bay (which includes a part of the Intercostal Waterway) appears to be quite shallow (relatively speaking) and is dotted throughout with reefs which actually turned out to be oyster beds. Everywhere we went we would see birds “standing on the water”. It is pretty clear that boating in this area requires very good charts. A bit of local knowledge is pretty helpful as well.

Oystercatchers harvesting oysters and Curlews "standing on the water".

After a 30 minute ride we arrived at the Wildlife Refuge and began looking for birds. There were plenty of Ducks, Gulls, Egrets and Herons and our captain was excellent at identifying the different species. Finally, we caught a glimpse of two very tall, white birds. Whoopers! Chris & I were both surprised to learn that they are in pairs rather than a big flock like we expected. It turns out they are very territorial and the only time a larger group will hang together is when they are immature birds who don’t have mates yet. The guide called those groups “cohorts”.  I don’t know if that is a technical term or just something he made up.

We hung around watching the Whooping Cranes as they picked through the pond and the tall grass looking for food while our captain gave us lots of information. 

TALL birds!

 

The group in Texas migrates to Canada in the spring to breed and raise their chicks and back to Aransas, TX in the fall. Snowbirds in the most literal sense. There were originally believed to be 15,000-20,000 birds in this group but, due mostly to human interference (think hunting and loss of habitat), the population fell to an all-time low of 15 birds in 1941. Conservationists, scientists and biologists joined forces and have been working hard to change that statistic. They’ve have had some success. As of 2005 there were 215 birds and that number is slowly climbing.

Cranes on the wing.

 In addition, the experts were concerned that some sort of catastrophe (hurricane for one) might wipe them out entirely so decided to try adding additional territory. One group of birds was introduced into Idaho but disappeared after a few years. Another group, in Florida, never learned to migrate so they are now year round residents. In 2009 another group was introduced in Florida and with the help of an ultra-light plane were taught to migrate between there and Wisconsin. They are doing well but they still need their plane to lead the way every spring and fall. Thus, the birds in Texas are the only remaining “natural” group.

A pair "fishing".

Here are some interesting facts:

Whooping Cranes stand over 5’ tall and have a wing span of 7-1/2 ft. and yet they only weigh 15 lbs!

The success of the birds’ breeding during the summer months depends entirely on the amount of Blue Crabs available to them during the winter. If the crab supply is low, they will not produce well. If it is high, they will have more viable chicks.

Got him!

Yummy Blue Crab!

Whooping Cranes can live 20-25 years in the wild (without human interference).

Great Blue Heron

Of course, the Whoopers were not the only birds we saw on the trip. On the way back to the dock we saw Herons, Ibis, Egrets, several type of Ducks and Gulls, Oystercatchers, Pelicans and numerous shorebirds. 

Oystercatchers

American White Pelicans on a small strip of land.

It would appear that Chris & I have become quite the birders, huh? 

Well, sailing around on a boat over many miles of water will do that to you. There isn’t a lot to see out there. We are always on the lookout for whales, dolphins, turtles, etc. but we have learned to appreciate the messages we get from birds as well (not the least of which is where there might be fish to catch) and identifying them has become a game we like to play.  

      

Corpus Christi, TX (Part 1)

Here we are in Corpus Christi and, after a week of wind, cold and rain the wet stuff has FINALLY stopped falling out of the sky. Whoo hoo! I was beginning to think we had just lassoed some of that Washington winter weather and tied it to our back bumper. In the meantime, we've found lots of “indoor activities” to keep us busy.

Thursday we went to the Corpus Christi Museum of Science & History which is great. The museum provides a lot of history about Texas and the southwest and, as an added bonus, the museum is the custodian of replicas of Columbus' ships. Two (the Pinta and the Santa Maria) are in dry dock on the museum grounds but the Nina is in the water somewhere by the U.S.S. Lexington. We drove around a lot in that area but never did locate her.

Diorama of an Aztec marketplace.

Since Chris & I spend so much time on a boat we really enjoyed the guided tour of the Pinta. Clearly, these ships weren't built with the kind of creature comforts we "modern" sailors are used to. For one thing, there were no quarters below so all crew members slept on deck no matter what the weather. Ewww. Not only would the wooden deck be very cold and wet but the deck is high in the middle and rolls down on each side so any water will drain out through the scuppers (holes in the side). The helmsman stood at the back of the boat (which is still the case on most sailboats) under a "roof" about 5’ high. Remember, the average height for these guys was about 4'9". Since the helmsman was unable to see where they were going, another crewman would stand on the “roof” above him yelling directions. Pretty amazing. You'd sure have to have a lot of confidence that that guy knew his right from his left!!

The Pinta

 These replica ships were built in 1986 in Spain and then sailed across the Atlantic to commemorate Columbus’ voyage to America. Inside the museum is a 10 minute video of the ships sailing and it includes interviews with some of the people who did the crossing aboard them. The ships have been in Corpus since 1993 but the volunteer organization that was formed to maintain them went bankrupt and since maintaining a wooden boat is phenomenally labor intensive, the upkeep is suffering. A small group of experts are in the process of trying to restore the Pinta but they clearly have their hands full. The Santa Maria is pretty much toast and is scheduled to be demolished within the next year.

Santa Maria in considerable disrepair.

Friday we made a foray the Texas State Aquarium. That was really fun. Of course, I love aquariums anyway. This one doesn’t come close to Monterey (CA) but is very well set up and really geared toward kids. 

Lionfish. A real favorite with the kids.

I especially enjoyed the tank full of sting rays that you can touch and feed. It wasn’t feeding time when we were there but I did “pet” a couple and was surprised at how velvety they feel.  When we're in Mexico we are very careful to do the "sting ray shuffle" to avoid stepping on these guys whenever we are landing the dinghy on the beach. They bury themselves in the sand and are pretty much invisible. Their "sting" (actually it is more like a big jab from their barbed tail) is quite painful and something I am quite happy to hear stories of rather than experience myself. 

Stingray

One of the really special exhibits at the aquarium is a shallow saltwater pool complete with fish and rays that also houses some of the local waterfowl. I was thrilled to see a Roseate Spoonbill up close and personal. There are also two White Ibis' in this exhibit. A docent explained that the birds had been injured and rescued and could no longer fly (or survive in the wild) so they seem to be happy living out their days on display.

White Ibis and Roseate Spoonbill.

In addition to those attractions, we’ve made numerous trips to Barnes & Noble and done a lot of just driving around checking out the area. Yesterday we went out Mustang Island (which is actually the north end of Padre Island) to the little town of Port Aransas. There is a State Park on the island, right on the beach (and Wildlife Preserve) and we’ve decided to move out there tomorrow for a day or two. This is the only place in the world where Whooping Cranes migrate to in the winter and we are excited to see them. We’ve already seen Roseate Spoonbills, White Pelicans, Ibis & Egrets in the Bay and several types of shorebirds on the beach. 

By the time we reached Port Aransas we were pretty hungry and somehow Chris managed to pick the best place in town (our opinion) for lunch. A little place called Beaches. Great beer and the best BBQ we’ve had yet. Even bought some delicious freshly made pastries from their bakery for breakfast today. We're both looking forward to another great meal here when we are settled in at the State Park.

Mustang Island Beach

Tomorrow the coach goes in for a little repair. While that is being done, we plan to drop Abby off at the doggy spa for a bath & pedicure and (if the good weather holds) take a boat tour of the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge. I can’t wait!