Aransas Continued...

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Just a few more images from the Aransas, Texas trip with Van back in November:


American Oystercatcher
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American Avocet
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Common yellowthroat
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Blue-winged Teal
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Pied-billed Grebe
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Mocking Bird
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Pelicans and Terns
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Sandhill Cranes
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Golden-fronted Woodpecker
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Rail
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Seaside Sparrow
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Lesser Goldfinches
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Mocking Bird
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And the Whooping Cranes, of which there are only 264 currently.
In the 1940s there was a population of only 15 birds left.
According to Saving Cranes:
"The only remaining natural, self-sustaining flock of Whooping Cranes breeds in Wood Buffalo National Park in the Northwest Territories, Canada and winters in Aransas National Wildlife Refuge (Texas). This flock reached a low of only sixteen birds in the winter of 1941-1942, and numbered under 35 birds over the next two decades. In 2006, there were over 200 birds in the flock. The population migrates during both spring and fall through a relatively narrow (80-300 km wide) corridor between Aransas and Wood Buffalo."

Read more about the birds HERE.

We took a Whooping crane tour via The Skimmer with Capt. Tommy.
Read more about his tour operation HERE.


Whooping Cranes 1
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Whooping Cranes 2
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We stayed at Fulton Beach Bungalows, which I loved, in Bungalow 8. I would like to go back and stay in the same Bungalow 8 every year from now on.


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See larger version HERE
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