Texas - Gulf Coast

January 21, 2024

On January 5 we moved west and then south into Texas and the Gulf Coast, camping for a week at Goose Island State Park north of Rockport, Texas. This was our third time camping there and we really like it as the birding is very good. The area is known to be the winter home of about 210 Whooping Cranes - these are huge birds standing 5 1/2 to 6 feet tall with a 7 foot wing span. We went on 3 park sponsored birding tours and had 91 bird sitings on the 3 tours including 24 Whooping Cranes. The birding hosts are very very knowledgable. 

Whooping Cranes

American White Pelicans

Whooping Cranes and Sandhill Cranes

Whooping Crane and Juvenile

Crested Caracaras

One day we drove to Aransas National Wildlife Refuge and walked most of the trails, climbed the observation towers, and took the nature loop road. We saw 35 different bird species there plus alligators, a feral pig and an armadillo. Another day we drove over to Port Aransas ( this includes a short ferry boat ride) and went to the Leonabelle Turnbell Birding Center and saw 22 different  bird species and a very large alligator. We also went to Roberts Point Park and saw a view birds there. We had a good lunch at our favorite Mexican restaurant in Port Aransas.

Black Necked Stilts

Avocet

Green Winged Teal

Roseate Spoonbill

Observation Platform at Aransas NWR

We rode our bikes a lot around the park to see the Whooping Cranes in a nearby field and the the huge “big tree” a very old live oak. The park also has a very long fishing pier and one afternoon, we walked to the end of it. One calm morning Mark got his kayak out and went boating. It went fine until the tide went out a bit and he got stranded on an oyster bed. He had to get out of the boat and pull the kayak over it.  For the most part, the weather was nice while we were there although we had some windy times.

Fishing Pier Goose Island SP

Big Live Oak Tree

On January 12, we moved south to Padre Island near Corpus Christi. The day we moved it was very windy. We stayed for 3 nights at Padre Balli County Park. The day we arrived we drove 8 miles south to Padre Island National Seashore which is the longest undeveloped stretch of barrier island ( at 70 miles) in the world. When we were here in 2020, we took some  birding tours here also, but we were very disappointed to find out they have been discontinued since covid, We braved the wind to walk down to the beach and drove around and saw a few birds.  

The next day we went back to the Leonabelle Turnbell Birding Center and saw more birds. We also went to 2 other little nature parks, but I think it was too windy for most of the birds. We drove down to the beach and watched huge ships go through the channel which leads into Corpus Christi and we enjoyed watching people flying kites on the beach. We drove back south about 12 miles along the beach!  We didn’t know for sure whether there was an exit road from the beach to the south, so we were glad when we saw one and knew we didn’t have to turn around.

Observation Towers Leonabelle Turnbell Birding Center

Corpus Christi Shipping Channel

Driving on the Beach

Kites!

Kites

Avocets

American White Ibis

The next day, Sunday, we crossed back to the mainland into Corpus Christi and went to the South Texas Botanical Gardens and Nature Center.  They had two greenhouses. One had bromeliads and one had orchids and also had lots of beautiful roses. The park has a nice nature trail which went through the wetlands. Our next stop was Ona Bay Wetlands Preserve which had very nice trails.

Ona Bay Wetlands Preserve

South Texas Botanical Gardens and Nature Center Bromeliads

We got back to our campsite that afternoon and it started getting very windy again and the temperature started dropping. All the weathermen had been talking about for the past few days was the Arctic Blast coming our way. They are not use to weather near or below freezing down here and we kind of chuckle, but when you add this to the wind chill it was pretty cold. It got down to 29 degrees Monday morning and was sleeting, so the trailer had icicles on it and the trailer steps and truck windows were coated in ice. 

Trailer had Icicles

We had to move to another park 8 miles down the road so we waited as long as we could hoping it would warm up ( it didn’t). The roads were clear and dry so we moved to Mustang Island State Park. We moved into our new site, turned on the heat and barely left the trailer it was so cold. We stayed at Mustang Island 2 nights and didn’t do much because of the cold and the wind. 

Stormy Beach at Mustang Island State Park

On Wednesday, the 17th we moved south and west to the Rio Grande Valley for the birding. It is a little warmer here, but the highs haven’t got out of the 50’s the past two days. But…more about that and all the birds next time!