The Texas Gang

What a great time we had in addition to birding as we made our way across the Texas Gulf Coast and Rio Grande Valley!  One of Sparkle's friends posted on Facebook that the birding must have been really good at DQ!  Roberta, Jane, Bob, Pat, Sparkle, Marion, and Ron, our leader, enjoyed seeing 157 species of birds and eating at some very tasty restaurants along the way.

Thanks to Sparkle for all her group photos!

SAN ANTONIO

The Barn Door, San Antonio, TX

Tanking up to begin our birding expedition at Mary's Cafe in Rio Hondo, TX.  It was a family owned authentic Mexican restaurant.

BROWNSVILLE, TX 

Tony Roma's, Brownsville, TX

Joe's Crab Shack, McAllen, TX (finally!  after trusting cell phone navigation to three nonexistent restaurants!)

Observation Tower at Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park.
Mexico in background as we looked for Gray Hawks and found them.

Pat and Bob in Education Center at Edinburg Scenic Wetlands

A chilly outdoor meal at Santa Fe Steakhouse and Cantina, McAllen TX

Somewhere in South TX in a 16 passenger van

ZAPATA, TEXAS

We did "break for DQ" every day of our trip in TX.  A day without a DQ Hurricane was a day unfulfilled!

LAREDO, TEXAS

Laredo was Mexico in the US.  A sign on the door of Taquitos Ravi Restaurant said, "We speak English here."

SOMEWHERE BETWEEN LAREDO AND CORPUS CHRISTI

The daily DQ fix

ROCKPORT, TX

Los Camoles, Rockport, TX

Fulton Harbor waiting for the Whooping Crane Boat Tour

Sunrise behind me at the marina

The photographers, Marion and Sparkle, making that white dot way out there look like the magnificent Whooping Crane that it was.

Marion, Sparkle, Bob, Pat and Roberta

The Chamo girls, Sparkle and Marion, with Jane on left and Ron on right. 

Pat and Bob, a great couple

Sisters, Jane and Roberta

Leading our group across South Texas was Ron Clark.

DAY 7: Aransas NWR

PORT ARANSAS/FULTON HARBOR

E-bird List: Fulton--N. Fulton Beach Rd, pond/marsh (W. of rd/E.of airport), Aransas Co. TX
E-bird List: Fulton Harbor, Aransas County, TX
"We spent Friday morning on a Whooping Crane boat tour. Our total for the three hours was 20+ Whoopers, including one juvenile. Along the way, we had Long-billed Curlews, Neotropic Cormorants, Reddish Egrets and nine more Sandhill Cranes, plus 32 more species of the birds you usually find around water."

The marina at Rockport

Marina at Port Aransas:  The Harbor is Fulton Harbor

A  Female Great-tailed Grackle found a nice morsel to eat.

FULTON HARBOR AND WATERWAYS OF ARANSAS NWR

Sandwich Tern:  2 more views below.  I was surprised to get any fairly good photos from a moving boat.

Sandwich Tern

Sandwich Tern

Bridge to Corpus Christi

White-phased Reddish Egret

Great Blue Heron

Forster's Tern

I have included a ridiculous number of Whooping Crane photos, but it may be the last time I see the rarest bird in North America (besides the Condors).  We saw 20+ Whoopers, but I think we lost count.  There was only one family group with a baby.  A boat captain was disturbed that a baby was missing at one of the locations.

Whooping Cranes in love

Large group of White Pelicans

White Pelican in flight

White Pelican in Flight

Reddish Egret pair

Reddish Egret pair

Mother and baby Whooping Cranes feeding together.  The rest of the Whooper photos are of the family group.

The baby has a very mottled goldfish color mixed with white but when it lifted off in
flight it appeared to be all white

A Harrier was hunting nearby

Mr. Whooper stayed further away from the mother and child but they would come together periodically.

The banding on this male is obvious

The behavior of the adults changed dramatically and they started whooping.  Notice that the baby seems unconcerned.

…continued whooping

…more vocal whooping

The parents are beginning to run with baby unconcerned

the parents are running faster

…beginning to take flight

Now in flight

The parents together but where is baby whooper?

The baby is on the right catching up with the parents.  What we discovered was a pair of Whoopers came into this families'  territory.  We watched the whoopers spar with the invading pair and chase them off.  …really neat to watch.

Long-billed Curlew in shadow

Osprey with fish

Flying away with fish as we got too close for comfort

Brown Pelicans don't scare so easily

Mixed group of White and Brown Pelicans

American Oystercatcher

Playful dolphins followed the boat. 

The seemed to like staying just in front of the wake.

You can see the wake from the boat just behind the dolphin

Birds saw oil platforms as great perches.

Coming back to port

Surprisingly, this was our only Herring Gull

One more Great Blue Heron

…and one more Brown Pelican

ARANSAS NWR HEADQUARTERS

E-bird List: Aransas NWR--Wildlife Tower (Calhoun Co.), Calhoun Co., TX

A run to Aransas NWR for lunch and a few last hours of birding including a climb to the observation tower added two more Whooping Cranes before we finished the trip and headed back to San Antonio.

One knows it's not SC when a cactus like this resides next to marsh grass

However, I'm very familiar with scenes like this

A climb to the tower overlooking the water regions of Aransas NWR

There were 2 more Whooping Cranes way out there.

Black Vultures had turned the tower into a roost that was messy and smelly.
This one would not be spooked but the humans invading its territory.

I couldn't end the blog with a Black Vulture so I've included the Wild Turkeys that I took through the van window as we ended our week of birding.

…and what a week it was!  We had a great group and saw some wonderful sights, but best of all there were lots of birds in the great state of Texas.

Pat, Bob, Me, Marion, Sparkle, Roberto, Ron and Jane at Aransas NWR