Texas Roadtrip, Part 6: We wrapped up our Texas birding adventure with stops at two hotspots on the Gulf Coast: the nature center on South Padre Island and the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge. 

Just in time for spring break

Craig and I had been warned before we left Big Bend National Park that spring break was imminent, and crowds would soon be descending on southern Texas. Happily, we escaped the park before that happened and, oddly enough, the Río Grande Valley did not appear to be a big destination!

However, when we reached the Gulf Coast, we found spring break in full swing, with groups of scantily-clad college students crowding the beaches, roaming the streets, and filling the bars and coffee shops of South Padre Island and nearby Port Isabel. We got a kick out of the, shall we say, exuberant architecture of some of the places that catered to vacationers.

At the nature center

Our destination, the South Padre Island Birding and Nature Center, was not nearly so busy as the main strip through town. From the vantage of the parking lot, I couldn’t have imagined that there would be much to see here, but it turned out that behind the visitor center a long boardwalk meandered through a rich coastal wetland. Birds in the water, birds flying overhead, birds resting on a small sandy beach… this place was amazing!

The tide was very high when we visited, so we saw few shorebirds, with the exception of these lesser yellowlegs who were waiting out the high tide on a floating log.

Mostly what we saw, though, were long-legged waders and swimmers.

The long-legged waders

As soon as we got out of our car, we spotted this white ibis marching along the edge of the small pond in the middle of the parking lot and probing the muck with his long, curved red bill. This was the first one I’d seen up close enough to get a good shot!

All of a sudden, another ibis (probably his kid sister!) decided that she needed to get onto the stump behind him by first jumping onto his already fully-occupied perch. A slight kerfuffle ensued, then both settled down on their respective stumps, but not before exchanging a glare.

When we took in the big picture, however, it seemed more likely that this large bird might end up being the lunch of a much larger denizen of the pond! Then again, probably not…

The swimmers

Brown pelicans are a familiar sight around San Francisco Bay, but it was surprising to discover that in breeding season the Atlantic birds wear quite different plumage from their West Coast cousins. We found them exotic and captivating, with their yellow heads and pale eyes.

And others

I had only ever seen an osprey from a great distance, so it was a thrill to spot this guy braving the wind and looking out over his domain.

Whooping cranes were once found throughout North America, with a population numbering ten thousand or more. But by the early 20th century, they had almost disappeared, due primarily to hunting and habitat loss. The cranes are dependent on wetlands, which are still vanishing due to human encroachment. By 1941, only fifteen of these magnificent birds remained in the wild. This flock wintered at what is now Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, and that was where we were headed.

Aransas was established in 1937 to provide sanctuary for migratory birds and other wildlife, and in the early 1940s it became the center of efforts to preserve the whooping crane. Captive breeding and reintroduction programs, combined with strict legal protections and other measures, have shown success in reestablishing both migratory and non-migratory flocks in the wild. (You may have seen footage of pilots in ultralight aircraft leading young cranes on their first migrations.) The birds are still critically endangered, however, with only about eight hundred individuals now living in the wild.

The Aransas flock is special, because it is the only natural — i.e., not reintroduced — population of whooping cranes. Craig’s birding cousin Ron had told us about it, so we were going to see what we could see. We didn’t intend to stay long — again: cold! and windy! — so we stopped at the visitors center to learn where we might have the best chance of seeing a whooping crane. Happily, the ranger told us that the cranes had not yet headed off to their summer breeding grounds in northern Canada — and that he had seen one that morning along the Rail Trail. So that’s where we went, fingers crossed.

We parked at the trailhead, bundled up, and headed out along the half-mile trail with great intrepidity, taking care to stick to the path and thus avoid alligators (!). At first, it seemed like there were lots of whooping cranes way out there in the grass, but in fact lots of other big white birds also hang out at the refuge — great egrets and snowy egrets and white ibis. When these birds took flight, it was easy to see that they were not whooping cranes, which have wide bands of black along their wingtips (visible only in flight). We kept looking…

Since we were there, we decided also to check out the refuge’s observation tower and boardwalk.

End of the road

And so ended our birding tour of Texas. We had definitely had our fill (and then some) by this point, but it had been a wonderful two weeks of exploring and experiencing this part of the natural world.

These are all the birds I photographed on the trip:

When I think of the successes of the decades-long effort to save whooping cranes from extinction, I can’t help but remember Emily Dickinson, because this enterprise — and others like it — give me hope.

“Hope” is the thing with feathers –
That perches in the soul –
And sings the tune without the words –
And never stops – at all –
And sweetest – in the Gale – is heard –
And sore must be the storm –
That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm –
I’ve heard it in the chillest land –
And on the strangest Sea –
Yet – never – in Extremity,
It asked a crumb – of me.