Views of the Neighborhood – Whooping Crane Festival

~ John W. Howell

Here is a description of the festival taken from http://www.whoopingcranefestival.org. You can visit the site for information on events.

This festival in its 22nd year is a one of a kind event, focused on the Whooping Crane, the rarest of cranes and one of the most endangered birds in the world.

The Whooping Crane population is at a record high –an estimated 431 cranes wintered at the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge last year. This summer, a record 63 Whooping Crane chicks fledged on the cranes’ breeding grounds at Wood Buffalo National Park in Canada. The Whooping Crane Festival celebrates the annual return of the cranes to their wintering habitat. The Texas Coastal Bend is the only place where you can see the world’s last naturally occurring population of Whooping Cranes.

World-renowned crane expert, Dr. George Archibald, Co-Founder of the International Crane Foundation, will be one of the featured speakers, along with representatives from Wood Buffalo National Park, Operation Migration, the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, and more. Festival activities include boat tours to view the Whooping Cranes, interactive workshops and seminars, birding and nature boat and bus tours, a painting and wine tasting class and a free nature-related trade show.

A whooping Crane

 

Visitors from all over the country come to Port Aransas for the festival

The registration desk with a hanging quilt depicting the T-shirts from 20 festivals.

This year’s shirt

The Whooping Crane chicks are hatched in Wood Buffalo National Park in Canada.

Representatives of the International Crane Foundation

Information on the Estuaries program and how to keep the Gulf beautiful.

An overall shot of the room. There were just too many booths to feature here. There were gifts, art, jewelry and more.

The famous King Ranch was represented offering birding tours.

Information for birders on the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival.

The Port Aransas Animal Rehabilitation Keep was well represented.

Need binoculars?

Fisherman’s Wharf is represented offering tours to the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, home of the Whooping Cranes. This is a model of the Wharf Cat, the boat used for the trip.

If you blow up this photo, you can see which birds have been spotted so far.

A picture of the Wharf Cat and bird enthusiasts waiting to board for the tour.

Another shot

Whooping Crane Festival

The captain surveying the landlubbers.

Whooping Crane Festival

Another event that is part of the Whooping Crane Festival is the Wine and Art workshop at the Arts Center

There are wine and snacks too.

Everyone works on their individual rendering of the same piece. Here an artist is drying the background to get ready for the foreground.

Did I mention there was wine?

The artist instructor is demonstrating the application of the foreground.

Here is what each participants piece will look like.

I hope you enjoyed the walk around. It was good to see everyone enjoying themselves.

 

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Published by John W. Howell

I have been working in business for over forty years and now have the time to work in special areas of interest. My passion has always been to create compelling stories of fiction. I have authored six novels and am working on my Seventh. The first novel is still in manuscript form and being utilized as a door stop in the laundry room. The second is a contemporary fiction novel of 89,000 words and is complete and I am currently seeking a publisher. I also write poetry but have not had the guts to share any with anyone. The one time I read a piece to a person their only comment was, “it doesn’t rhyme.” I will continue to write and hopefully my blog, Fiction Favorites at www.johnwhowell.com will provide some entertainment and an interesting thought or two. I live in the Austin area with my wife Molly and an assortment of loving pets.

55 thoughts on “Views of the Neighborhood – Whooping Crane Festival”

  8. A fascinating event at Port A, John – thanks for the tour. I didn’t know that about the park in Canada – so I looked it up and here’s a bit of info I found: “Wood Buffalo National Park is the largest National Park of Canada at 44,807 km2 (17,300 sq mi). It is located in northeastern Alberta and the southern Northwest Territories. Larger in area than Switzerland,[1] it is the second-largest national park in the world.[2] The park was established in 1922 to protect the world’s largest herd of free-roaming wood bison, currently estimated at more than 5,000. It is one of two known nesting sites of whooping cranes.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wood_Buffalo_National_Park

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  9. This seems like a fun and interesting event. I take it that their winter habitat wasn’t too badly damaged by Harvey.

    I notice that no Canada Geese have been seen. Maddie can tell you that we saw about 50 yesterday, heading north, so maybe it’s a little late for you guys.

    I’m curious about one thing. Was their wine?

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    1. Ha ha ha. We don’t get Canadian Geese here. I don’t think there is enough vegetation for them to eat. All our birds are definitely fish, crab, mollusk, grub, and other animal protean eaters. Their winter digs were pretty much left intact. We have noticed more Whooping Cranes in our neck of the woods and I think it is because the feeding grounds were hit enough cause them to branch out.

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  14. I’m going to have to Google “Whooping Crane.” I don’t think I’ve ever heard of one before (not unusual, living in land-locked Central Illinois!) Looks like an interesting festival, John — thank you for letting me tag along.

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  15. This looks like great fun. A friend went down last week with a small group, but they stayed in Fulton, and I think they were on a different boat. The m/v “Skimmer,” perhaps? Anyway, they had a great time, found their accomodations very good, and had nothing but good things to say about the lump crab nachos they ran into! Oh — and I think they had a little wine, too.

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  17. Whoopee for the cranes — and for Port A for getting back up and running after Harvey. (Okay… you know I can’t resist a play on words.) I really did enjoy this, John — the quilt, the photos, the paintings… I was already on the hook and then you added wine. I’m sorry to be late, but you definitely perked up my Mordor Monday. Hugs on the wing!

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  18. There is or was a group that incubated whooping crane eggs, then used one of those ultralight planes to lead them to historical winter ranges in other states. Last I heard they were making progress, but funding is an issue. The basic idea was to restore them to these other areas to prevent a disaster from rendering them extinct.

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  21. I’ve been saving this post for a time when I could sit and linger over it. I’m so glad I did!

    The Whooping Crane is gorgeous! The tour looks fun. I’d love to travel there to see some Whooping Cranes. Maybe one day eh?
    I’ve done two of those wine and art painting nights. They’re fun, and I did walk away with a fairly decent painting each time.

    I want a T-shirt. Think I’ll go see if I can still get one and help support the cause. Thanks John for the arm-chair tour!

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  22. I am impressed. What a wonderful festival and such a worthy endeavor. One thing I’ve learned through these posts is that you live in an extremely active community. Thanks for sharing, John.

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