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.