I am embarrassed to say that it took me 2 years to finally
get to Aransas National Wildlife Refuge.
I have known that some of the very best birding opportunities in our
country are right here on the Texas Coast, yet for one reason or another we had
yet to go. Better late than never though,
and what a rewarding weekend it was.
Whooping Cranes, Sandhill Cranes, Glossy Ibis, Roseate
Spoonbills, all super stars of bird land.
No tiny brown balls in the bushes but birds that stand several feet tall
on the wetland or on tidal flats- hard to miss birds. But most Back
in the late 30’s early 40’s there were only 15 birds left, only 15! That they are here at all, 60 years later is
a testimony to man’s doggedness at trying to undo the damage that his presence
had done. The amazing thing is knowing, that when you are looking at the Whopping cranes, you are seeing not only the tallest bird on our continent, but the most rare.
As is so often the case, it is habitat loss, filling in the
wetlands for farmland in the Midwest, and hunting that brought them to such a
low number. These birds breed in the
Northwest Territories of Canada and then migrate, in this case, to the coast of
Texas to winter on the wetlands found at Aransas. It was made a wildlife refuge in 1941 for the
very purpose of protecting their wintering habitat. And so it has.
I mention doggedness because when you read of all the things
they have tried, and the failures they encountered, it is admirable that they
keep going. I remember when they were
trying to have the chicks raised by the somewhat similar Sandhill cranes, only
to find out, that although they grew normally, because of imprinting, they only
had eyes for other Sandhills. Scrap that
plan. Some were raised to be non-migratory
in Fl but I believe I read that, and what was the chance of this, a large part
of that population got wiped out in a tornado.
Another group you might have read about is being raised in
Wisconsin and then led by an ultralight plane to their wintering grounds in
Fl. This is an attempt to establish a new Eastern
population of birds and so far, it has met with success, yeah! Some of the young are still picked off by
predators, who apparently have not read the Endangered Species Act and consider
a meal a meal, but that can’t be helped really.
Although, people will point out there are too many bobcats to prey on
them because coyotes and wolves are gone. The delicate balance of nature is not a
fictitious thing. But this eastern group
is doing well in that some of those raised flying behind the ultralight, now
make the trek on their own. Again, yeah!
So, it was a thrill to see a pair feeding on the marsh at
sunset. 5’ tall, with the characteristic
“bustle” of the crane looking all fluffy in the light, and the red patch which
isn’t red feathers but a skin patch, also clearly visible. As we watched from the trail, several V’s of
Sandhill cranes came “bugling” their way in.
You can hear them before you see them.
Both Whooping Cranes and Sandhills have these great long tracheas that
coil at the bottom like a tuba enabling them to have calls that, in the
Whopping crane, can be heard 5 miles away!
They flew in so gracefully and landed on the marsh arranging themselves
exactly as you see them painted on Japanese screens.
They close the park at dusk, more the pity there, for that’s
when things begin livening up, and that thickening golden light made everything
beyond beautiful. A pair of Glossy Ibis
was just a few feet from us, their feathers iridescent green in the light, and
Roseate spoonbills that looked like flamingoes at first glance, stood feeding
in the distance. So exotic!
But are you beginning to nod off like someone trapped in
another person’s slide show of their recent trips? Perhaps, yet you know there will have to be a
few more blogs to follow on this for we saw so much! And after being reduced to write about dung
beetles( not that I don’t LOVE dung beetles) it is great to have so many
potential topics. Stay tuned; think “Scat
Central” may be next.
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