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

Still Celebrating – Rockport, Texas Day 2

On our second day we headed out to the Leonabell Turnbull Birding Center in Port Aransas.  We always visit here at least once on every trip.

We saw almost 70 different species of birds on this trip with 10 being lifers for this location.

The weather was perfect.

It was fun to see American Avocets in both their breeding plumage (most of the birds) and their non-breeding plumage (only a few).

American Avocet - Breeding Plumage

American Avocet Non-breeding Plumage

The Birding Center seems tailor-made for bird photography, with the ability to get close to the birds with the sun at your back. We always get a lot of great pictures. 

Black-necked Stilt

Forster's Tern

Laughing Gull

Snowy Egret

We saw three different Rails while we were there. Rails are notoriously sneaky birds that spend little time in the open. But the long boardwalks and grassy edges makes it a little easier to find them.

Clapper Rail

Sora

Virginia Rail

There is (was) a very nice birding boardwalk close to the birding center called Charley's Pasture.  It was destroyed by hurricane Harvey but is slowly being rebuilt.  There is a very short boardwalk completed now and hopefully more will be completed in the coming year.

Long-billed Curlew

Another birding site in this area is called Holt Paradise Pond.  We always stop there but this day there was a barricade across the entrance with a closed for construction sign.

After a nice lunch at Arandas Mexican Grille, we enjoyed an afternoon of reading in our backyard.  That evening we headed back to Linda Castro's and Goose Island where we saw a few more migratory birds using water features. 

Hooded Warbler

Northern Parula

Swainson's Thrush

Our final stop was at Big Tree (part of Goose Island) where we had three Whooping Cranes fly over. Our understanding is that this was the last family group remaining on the peninsula. All others had started north. 

Next - Aransas National Wildlife Refuge