This morning I was up early and out onto the pier that was allocated to the motel, I wasn't the first though as a few of my companions had beaten me to it.
There was an Osprey sat on the next deck and many Brown and American White Pelicans. We also saw Laughing Gulls and had a very confiding Turnstone which pottered about the deck.
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| American White Pelican |
After breakfast as we waited by the minibus we had a few Northern Cardinals and our first Hummingbird with a Ruby-Throated.
We then headed over to Rockport Beach where we added Franklin's Gull, Forster's Tern, Western Willet, Royal Tern, American Herring Gull, Snowy Egret, Long-billed Curlew, Sanderling, Snowy Plover, Crested Caracara, Semi-palmated Plover and Marbled Godwit.
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| Crested Caracara |
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| Laughing Gull |
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| Long-billed Curlew |
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| Marbled Godwit |
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| Brown Pelican |
The afternoon was spent in Aransas Bay with a boat trip on the 'Skimmer' and Capt. Tommy. The target was Whooper Crane.
This was one of the highlights of the trip as we headed out from Port Aransas to the Islands around San Jose Island. On the way out we saw both Double-crested and Neo-tropical Cormorants and amazingly a Magnificent Frigatebird that was perched precariously on a pole.
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| Magnificent Frigatebird |
We eventually found a few Whooper Cranes, one of the rarest birds Ive seen. In the 1930's the population was down to just 18 birds but due to co-ordinated conservation efforts over the last 80 years there are now around 450 birds. They breed in wetlands of Northern Canada and then spend the winter around Aransas NWF, with small populations in Florida and Wisconsin.
We spent around 4-5 hours out on the boat and on the way back Capt. Tommy found a small group of Roseate Spoonbills.
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| Roseate Spoonbills |
We also chanced upon a pod of Bottle-nosed Dolphins which seemed very interested in us.
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| Bottle-nosed Dolphins |
We spent some time around Rockport beach again when we got back where we saw Piping Plover, a species I had tried to see last year in New Jersey and Reddish Egret.
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| Reddish Egret |
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| Piping Plover |
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