Still Celebrating – Rockport, Texas Day 3

The next day we made it out to Aransas National Wildlife Refuge.  We've been visiting Aransas for 40 years now and have always enjoyed it. Except when the mosquitos are trying to carry us away!

It was a good day for birding and we saw plenty of birds.

The very first bird that we saw was this fierce little falcon, called a Merlin.  They are known for being much tougher than their small size would indicate. Their main prey is shorebirds and small songbirds so things were pretty quiet in this vicinity!

Merlin

The refuge had received far more rain than we'd seen in our part of Texas, and all of the fresh water lakes were full. 

Blue-winged Teal - male

Redheads and American Coots

We saw what must have been the same three Whooping Cranes that we'd seen the evening before. The next day it was reported that the final family of Whooping Cranes had left the refuge. Hopefully we'll see them again next year. 

Whooping Crane family

Lunch was at Shempy's.  It's a little hole-in-the-wall restaurant that has wonderful fried shrimp.

We had another relaxing afternoon of reading in the backyard then a short drive out to Goose Island and Linda Castro Nature Sanctuary. We continued to find migrating Warblers here and there, but not the large numbers we had hoped for. They were still fun to watch. 

Hooded Warbler

Kentucky Warbler

Prothonotary Warbler 

Prothonotary Warbler squabbling

Next - A return to Leonabelle Turnbull Birding Center