Talk about a wild goose chase! Or what we do on a wildly
windy day when camped on the North Padre Island beach. We chase cranes – whooping cranes that is.
Sunday, January 22, our 3rd day camped on the
island. It was sunny and clear, but oh,
that onshore wind gusted upwards of 40 mph.
It was definitely not a good day for beach bike riding, which we tried,
or any beach activity, really.
Aransas National Wildlife Refuge became our destination, in
the Mini. The hundreds of designated Aransas Refuge acres provide foraging for the
Whooping Cranes wintering in the area. We drove north on Mustang Island and
caught the car ferry at Port Aransas – one of several ferries operating
simultaneously across the channel to the mainland. Continuing north we drove through Rockport
and Fulton and then out to the Refuge. You know those crazy Wildlife Refuges
--- They’re always out in the middle of nowhere.
We drove miles past flat tilled fields waiting to be planted
with cotton on a carless country road to get to the road leading to the Aransas
NWR Visitor’s Center. We checked in.
At one stop on the car tour through the Refuge, we saw 2 lazy
alligators resting on the bank of a pond.
At another stop, from the top of a 40 ft. observation tower,
looking out toward the Gulf, way off in the distance, standing in long grass
(this is the build-up, folks!) we spotted what we came for. And when we could
hold our binoculars steady in that blow-me-down kind of wind, we gazed upon 3
whooping cranes. Too far away to take an iPhone photograph, you'll have to use your imaginations.
Mission accomplished!
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| Ferry crossing |
Isn't Aunt Pat's address Fulton? Pretty sure. Also, I'm jealous. Often in The Bugle, WCF's publication, it mentions Aransas Wildlife Refuge as one of the two southern sites for whooping cranes. Glad you went there and I can live vicariously.
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