A splendid Aransas sunset!
During a Christmas trip to Texas way back in 2004, we had an opportunity to get down to Aransas Wildlife Refuge along the Texas coasts. It is rare that I get to Texas anymore and it is ever rarer that I get there when the Whooping Cranes are in state! So we stole a few days away from the family reunion at my sister’s house in Houston and drove the Great Texas Birding Trail from Galveston down to Aransas to see the cranes.
We had great success seeing the cranes breeding and brooding along the coasts of Texas. With only a few hundred of these glorious birds left on earth, I feel very fortunate to have seen them in their native habitat raising their young.
The fascinating thing about Aransas is that it is home to a truly impressive assemblage of bird, mammal and reptile species! While there we saw Texas White-tailed Deer, Nine-banded Armadillos by the buttload, Eastern Fox Squirrels and well over 100 species of birds, many of which were lifers. We trekked the ancient oak woodlands and did driving safaris around the loop road that cris-crossed savannah grasslands and stands of mixed oak woodlands. All in all we had a wonderful week exploring the wilderness of Aransas and the Birding Route.
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Check out the images below for a sense of what Aransas has to offer!
