Upper left: An American white pelican flew in for a water landing at the birding center on Sunday. The distinctive piece on the top of the beak is called a knob made of keratin that is formed during the breeding season, that lasts now through July. It eventually falls off and grows back again the following breeding season.
Scores of folks attended the 26th annual Whooping Crane Festival hosted by the Port Aransas Tourism Bureau and Chamber of Commerce, Friday through Sunday, Feb. 23 through 26.
Birders, photographers and nature lovers took part in boat and van tours, speaker sessions and workshops, walking birding tours, painting sessions at the Port Aransas Art Center, tours of the Amos Rehabilitation Keep and more.
Upper right: Birders and photographers visited the Leonabelle Turnbull Birding Center on Sunday morning. They stopped along the new boardwalk where they were able to see hundreds of birds in the wetlands as well as the resident whooping crane family in the distance.
Bottom right: Attendees visit the International Crane Foundation booth at the Nature Related Trade show. The foundation is a non-profit conservation organization that works to conserve cranes worldwide, along with the ecosystems, watersheds and flyways that the cranes depend on.
Bottom left: Cindy Cseri, left, of Reedsburg, Wis. and Christina Lane of McKinney,get George Archibald, co-founder of the International Crane Foundation to sign his book, ‘My Life with Cranes’ at a book signing event in the Civic Center on Friday, Feb. 24.
Leave a Reply