Winter Texans (Part 1)

We rented a house on the Gulf Coast of Texas for a month and ended up staying for three months. We knew the birding would be good and the diving bad, but there were national seashores and wildlife refuges to visit, and coastal bays and estuaries to kayak. And while we had explored West Texas from El Paso to Big Bend National Park on the Rio Grande, we had not spent time in the Coastal Bend.

Rande and the Big Blue Crab, a local Rockport landmark on Little Bay

As we descended from the Texas Hill Country, we were struck by the width (100 miles) and flatness of the coastal plain. It’s barely above sea level – there were hurricane evacuation signs 20 miles from the coast. Nearly everyone we met assumed we were staying in an RV park and were surprised to learn that we had rented a house. Unbeknownst to us, we came to Texas during “Winter Texan Season” (Dec-Mar) when people drive to the Gulf Coast from northern states to escape the cold. It’s also “Whooping Crane Season” when, after flying 2,500 miles from the Northwest Territories of Canada, they arrive to feast on blue crabs in the bays and marshes of Aransas National Wildlife Refuge.

Rockport Beach on Aransas Bay

Feeding laughing gulls at Rockport Beach

We stayed in Rockport on the Live Oak Peninsula between Copano and Aransas bays. It’s contiguous with Fulton and they're often referred to as Rockport-Fulton (population about 10,000). Five miles across Aransas Bay is San José Island, a barrier island beyond which is the Gulf of Mexico. 

At 1,000 years old, "Big Tree" on the Lamar Peninsula is reported to be the oldest live oak

Green anole in our backyard; sometimes they came into the house

The coastal landscape is quite young. Most of the estuaries are less than 10,000 years old and sea level, which was highest 130,000 years ago, reached its current height 3,500 years ago. San José Island is built on a Pleistocene beach ridge (link). Landforms of the Live Oak Peninsula (and all of Aransas County) are Pleistocene beach ridges and swales, deflation troughs and stabilized dunes (link), remnants of an ancient barrier island. Upland habitats on the peninsula include woodlands, prairies and freshwater wetlands, which are potholes between ridges that trap rain runoff. 

Coastal prarie (and longhorns) near Bayside

Live oak forest on the Lamar Peninsula

Ephemeral pond (pothole) and wetland in Rockport

Guadalupe River and gallery forest

When early explores reached the Gulf Coast, the coastal prairie covered 65 million acres from Louisiana to the southern tip of Texas; now, less than one percent remains (link). 

Once a coastal prairie, this field near Autswell ready for planting

Grain bins near Autswell

Bay habitats include open estuary, marshes, sandflats, seagrass beds and oyster reefs (link). Texas estimated that, between the mid-1950s and the mid-1970s, it had lost more than one-third of its one million acres of coastal marshes to development and agriculture (link). 

Salt marsh on Redfish Bay near Aransas Pass

Salt marsh and live oak motte (cluster) on St. Charles Bay

Sand flat near Port Aransas

We visited the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge on the Gulf Coast north of Rockport several times over the winter. Located on the Blackjack Peninsula, it comprises 115,000 acres of coastal plain, live oak forests, barrier island and freshwater and saltwater wetlands. It was created in 1937 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt as “a refuge and breeding ground for migratory birds and other wildlife…[and]…for use as an inviolate sanctuary, or for any other management purpose, for migratory birds…” It rose to prominence in the conservation movement in the early 1940s when 15 whooping cranes remained in the wild. Aransas NWR became the focal point of an international effort to rescue whoopers from extinction (link, link).

Saltwater marsh at the south end Aransas National Wildlife Refuge

The dwarf palmetto palm in the picture below is native to Texas.

Saltwater marsh on the east side of the refuge with whooping cranes in the distance

Thomas slough with black willows

The Jones Lake shoreline was damaged by feral hogs rooting for food

Freshwater pond with native prickly pear in the foreground

At almost five feet tall, whooping cranes are the tallest birds in North America. With a seven-foot wingspan, they fly with a slow wingbeat, straight neck and legs extended beyond their tail. The tips of their wings are black, but that’s only visible when they’re flying. Whooping cranes mate for life, which can be 25 years in the wild. Fall migration from the Northwest Territories begins in September and they reach their wintering grounds on the Gulf Coast in November. Spring migration begins in March and they reach their breeding grounds in Wood Buffalo National Park in May (link).

Whoopers foraging on St, Charles Bay [whooper on the right has yellow
bands on left leg and (probably) a GPS transmitter on the right leg]

Whoopers on the move

Based on winter 2015-2016 aerial surveys, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service estimated that 329 whooping cranes were in and around the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, including 38 juveniles and 122 adult pairs (link). Whoopers migrate as single pairs, family groups and in small flocks, sometimes with sandhill cranes. They migrate during the day, but make regular stops to feed and rest. By the end of March, 31 whoopers had been spotted between Kansas and South Dakota (link).

Sandhill cranes foraging in a hay field

The refuge staff conducts prescribed burns from October to January in the live oak savannah and coastal prairie, burning an average of 10,000 acres per year since 1990 to control invasive and exotic plants and improve winter feeding areas for whoopers, which are usually seen on the burned areas a couple days after the fires (link). Historically, wildfires burned the coastal prairie every 3-5 years, but fire suppression (to protect livestock forage, crops and houses) has been the rule for the last century contributing to the spread of native and exotic shrubs and trees (link). 

Prescribed burn on the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge

While people come from around the world to see the whoopers, the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge has a lot more to offer visitors. It’s home to over 400 species of birds, 16 species of amphibians, 60 species of reptiles and 42 species of mammals (species lists at the visitor center).

American alligator at Jones Lake

Feral hog at Jones Lake with two alligators

Small alligator in Thomas Slough

White-tailed deer in a freshwater marsh

Raccoon

There several hiking trails, a 9-mile auto tour, observation platforms, a fishing pier, a picnic area in an live oak motte (but no camping facilities) and a visitor center that offers tours of the refuge.

Red drum caught from the fishing pier

Spanish dagger

Texas has documented 613 species of birds, more than any other state, and has taken advantage of national and international tourism to designate trails, bird sanctuaries and nature preserves along the Texas Coast. Known as the “Great Texas Coastal Birding Trail,” Texas Parks and Wildlife manages the system comprising 43 hiking and driving trails and 308 bird-watching sites, including road signs at the sites. It began in 1993 and was the first trail system of its kind in the nation (link). The concept was so popular that Texas Parks and Wildlife has designated nine “Great Texas Wildlife Trails” throughout the state (link). We did a lot of birding in the Coastal Bend, sometimes in our front yard; here are a few pictures.

Black-bellied whistling-duck on an oak tree in our front yard

White ibis in our neighbor's yard

Black skimmer feeding in Little Bay

Marbled godwits (foreground) and American avocets in Aransas Bay

Snowy egrets foraging among mangroves of Redfish Bay

Roseate spoonbills (foreground) foraging in a marsh on Copano Bay

Green-wing and blue-winged teals on Jones Lake

Redheads on Little Bay

White Pelicans over Aransas Bay

Near our house was a grove of live oaks that herons and egrets roosted in at night. There heads were often visible above the crowns of the trees. They also nest in the trees come spring. The grove of trees is between Highway 35, the main north-south road through Rockport, and Little Bay.

The grove of live oaks where great blue herons and great egrets roost and nest

Great blue herons (14) and great egrets (9) at the beginning of the nesting season

Great blue herons on their nest

The sloughs around Copano Bay were great places to see birds feeding close to shore. When a group of white pelicans began feeding, lots of other birds showed up for the feast. The fish and invertebrates in the slough don't stand a chance. The following pictures were taken over a span of six minutes.

A few white pelicans (right) are feeding as more fly in; also present are white 
and white-faced ibis and snowy and great egrets

White pelicans, egrets and roseate spoonbills continue to fly in

The small slough is filled with feeding birds

The party is nearly over by five minutes

By six minutes, the slough in almost empty

To be continued...

Winter Texan and proud of it