Sunday March 24

We need to move to a new site at the State Park. Last night they assigned us a special overflow site that is only available for one night. By midmorning a site opens up and we make our move.

Time to head to Rockport 20 minutes away running a few errands and getting to the dock for our 1 PM bird cruise. Wells needs a couple of prescriptions renewed so we locate a pharmacy and make arrangements for them to be filled. We’ll pick them Tuesday morning. The other day we stopped at an ACE Hardware Store and picked up a pair of battery LED lights to stick on the wall used for reading. The store was 50 miles away. One of the two lights did not work so we looked to return it to get a working one. At the store they were not sure what to do when we suggested since the batteries were already in the light when it shipped maybe the batteries were dead. We checked and that was the case so they gave us some new batteries and we were set. On to the dock.

It’s towards the end of whooping crane season. Sometime around the end of March and early April the birds begin their migration to Wood Buffalo National Park in northern Alberta and southern Northwest Territories. After a thirty minute cruise across the bay we are at Aransas National Wildlife Refuge. Off in the distance across the marsh we see our first pair of whoopers. As we move along the shoreline with the boat bottle nose dolphins play around the boat. Soon we see other whoopers always a bit closer than the pair before. Wells is capturing plenty of images of whoopers and other birds such as oyster catchers, osprey, various cranes, among others.

Soon we come upon a pair in flight then another pair. Whoopers stay with their mate and defend up to a square mile of territory. Next, we see three whoopers together. These are teenagers not paired up yet. As the boat drifts close to the shore the birds come closer and closer with Wells firing his camera.

So far we have not connected with decent wifi but when we do Wells with add photos. As we pull into the harbor a common loon greets us. We enjoy a seafood supper in Rockport then back to the campsite. Tomorrow we drive to Aransas National Refuge for exploration via land.