Everything but Whooping Cranes

We saw much more than whooping cranes at the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, including a great blue heron rookery and alligators!

The alligators were actually a bit scary.  There were no barriers between us and them, and in some cases they were only feet away.  Lee and I reminded ourselves that we were supposed to zig and zag if chased, not run in a straight line.   

We saw at least half a dozen, maybe more.  Just look at that satisfied smile.  "Sucker", he is saying to the photographer (Lee).

Lee said the 'gator below looked up and smiled at me as I walked by.  I hope it was a friendly smile.

We saw many birds, of course.  These roseate spoonbills were at a good distance, so the photo looks more like a watercolor, but aren't the colors beautiful?

Double-crested cormorants are very common, but I especially liked this photo of them:

The American oystercatcher has an impressive, very powerful bill, used for prying oysters open.  We saw them nesting on tiny oyster islands.

Lee caught this osprey, making direct eye-contact and readying to take flight.  A second later, it was off.

Bitterns and rails are very shy birds, but we did manage to see an American bittern on, of all places, the Rail Trail!  Lee thinks it was paid by the USFWS to make an appearance.  These birds, when they stand up straight with their beaks pointed to the sky, blend into the reeds in which they live.  They move very quietly and with great stealth.  We were lucky that this one was standing at the edge of the trail.

I especially loved the great blue heron rookery we passed.  Great blue herons will nest in trees, shrubs, and on the ground.  In this instance, several nests were created on a small island of roughly 50 feet by 30 feet.  The herons are safe from coyotes and other predators on an island like this, although the chicks are not necessarily safe from eagles and other winged predators.

On one end of the island was the most beautiful great blue heron I have ever seen.  Was he the patriarch of the island?  He (or she?) was very still and VERY regal.

Here was a strange site - a barge moving through the middle of the wetlands!

I asked the boat captain where we might find the black-bellied whistling duck (great name), a bird that lives in the area year-round.  He said to check out the golf course at the local country club.  So we did, not knowing exactly where to look, and lo and behold, we found the black-bellied whistling duck!  (Lee has so much patience.)

Unexpectedly, we also found two muskrats in one of the golf course ponds.  Who'd a thought?  I had never see a muskrat, and these animals were larger than I anticipated, about two feet in length (including the tail).

The picturesque town of Rockport, where we boarded the boat bound for the wildlife refuge, has several piers that jut into the bay.  One pier was confiscated by white pelicans and cormorants:

And finally, the Rockport harbor, a working harbor of primarily oyster and shrimp boats (they transform, depending on the season.)