Birding Tour, NWR

Yesterday, we decided to take the birding tour boat from Fulton Harbor out to the Aransas Wildlife Refuge.  The birding got off to a good start.  I saw a spoonbill in the pond, when I went to get the car washed.
There are two boats that do birding tours in the area.  We went out on the skimmer.  

Whooping Cranes are the main attraction this time of year.  Of course, we have seen them up closer hanging around Goose Island State Park.  We saw several pairs and one youngster on the boat tour. 

We did see lots of other birds.  I finally got a good picture of a Crested Cara Cara.

But, it turns out he was camera shy and took off .

It was a smooth riding boat and the captain did a great job finding all kinds of birds and a few dolphin.   He also gave us some history of the area.  He took us out to the wildlife refuge first, and then over to the oyster beds.

American Oystercatcher

 The captain explained how the water flow in the area makes these oysters plentiful and tasty. There were several American Oystercatchers working the area, who seemed to agree. 

Blue Herons and Oyster beds

If you look behind this huddled mass of blue herons, you can see the lines in the water. Those are all natural Oyster beds. The captain informed us that those are all on public land and we could, if motivated, go out and harvest our own oysters.

Back in Fulton Harbor, we watched the professionals offloading the huge sacks of oysters and decided the harvest was best left to them.  I do want to get some more oysters before we leave here.

It was a great way to spend an afternoon.  I recommend the tour, if you are interested in birds. Even though it was an overcast day, we saw lots of birds, were served some boxed wine, and had a very good time out on the water.