Whooper festival

Registration continues for annual event

A whooping crane comes in for a landing on Wednesday, Jan. 31, on the Lamar Peninsula near the Big Tree. Michael Thomas, of Corpus Christi, shot photos of two adults, one juvenile and one teenager who were foraging in the field and nearby marshlands. Photo by Michael B. Thomas

A whooping crane comes in for a landing on Wednesday, Jan. 31, on the Lamar Peninsula near the Big Tree. Michael Thomas, of Corpus Christi, shot photos of two adults, one juvenile and one teenager who were foraging in the field and nearby marshlands. Photo by Michael B. Thomas

Online registration for the 22nd annual Whooping Crane Festival is open, and trips, tours and workshops are filling up quickly.

The annual celebration of the endangered whooping crane is set for Thursday through Sunday, Feb. 22 through 25.

Register at www.whoopingcranefestival.org via MasterCard or Visa.

Registration for the festival is $20 per person and entitles registrants free entrance into all speaker sessions.

Individual tours, trips and workshops are priced separately.

Online registration will close at 12 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 19.

On-site registration and pre-registration packet pickup will open on Thursday, Feb. 22, at 1 p.m. at the Civic Center, 710 W. Ave. A.

Registration will run daily throughout the festival. The Civic Center will be open until 6 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, and open at 8 a.m. Friday and Saturday. On Sunday, the Civic Center will be open from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Registration fees help support conservation efforts for the endangered whooping crane.

The Port Aransas Chamber of Commerce and Tourist Bureau sponsors the annual event.

Festival activities include birding and nature boat and bus tours, guided tours of the Amos Rehabilitation Keep, interactive workshops and seminars, and a Wine, and a Whine and Design painting class.

The speaker sessions will be held at the Community Center, 408 N. Alister St.

Featured speakers include world-renowned crane expert Dr. George Archibald, co-founder of the International Crane Foundation; Dr. Wade Harrell, U.S. whooping crane coordinator at the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge; Dr. Richard Beilfuss, president and CEO of the International Crane Foundation; Natalie Bourke, public outreach education officer at the Wood Buffalo National Park in Canada; Joe Duff, co-founder and CEO of Operation Migration; Colleen Simpson, nature preserve manager for the City of Port Aransas and Jace Tunnell, director of the Mission-Aransas National Estuarine Research Reserve.

The festival also includes the Bird’s Nest trade show where representatives from conservation organizations distribute information and vendors sell a wide variety of nature-related goods.

For more information and to register online, visit the festival website previously mentioned.

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