Bizarre sounds rise up from the wetlands emanating from all manner of water fowl hidden among the foliage. Some groups chatter as they forage like friends chatting at a coffee shop.  Some squawk and protest at intruders who wander into their territory.  Others cluck or coo or whistle to let one another know their whereabouts.  What an entertaining chorus as we relax along the shore.

Then it starts. Grrrrrr.  Grrrr.  From nowhere.  A response from across the marsh.  A ripple moves across from our right as a huge alligator glides into view.  He stops and inhales a huge breath that expands his chest to double its size.  The water around him begins to boil as the sound waves of his bellow, at a frequency too low for us to hear, began.  Then the sound reaches us.  Impressive!  From banks near and far others answer his bellow.  For maximum affect they slide into the water where the sound transmits better.  There is a lot of growling and posturing but nobody seems too intimidated (except maybe me) and they all settle back into their sleepy eyed lounging.

A bright eyed, shiny coated black lab patiently sits beside the soon-to-be-operator of an air boat trailering into the park. To my amazement, that dog is wearing hearing protection.  How cool.  Had I not seen it myself, I would not have given the otherwise seemingly inconsiderate, self-centered, air-boat driving, duck hunters credit to have thought of protecting the dogs.   I still bristle a bit whenever I hear the engines roar to life and slash across the marshlands but have to cut them (at least some of them) just a bit of slack for the Mutt Muff thing.

The Corpus Christi Symphony and the Rockport Fulton High School Choir bring in the season beautifully.  Familiar and not so familiar carols are delivered with a nice mix of humor and reverence for the Season.  There was even a bit of an audience sing along.  Merry Christmas all

For three years folks have been telling us that we need to take a ride with Tommy on the Skimmer to see Aransas Wildlife Refuge from the bay side. Today is the day. It is sunny and cool and the bay is glass as smooth (unless you get too close to the Intercoastal and one of the tugs with its row of barges).  The Skimmer is a shallow draft powerboat that has permission to ferry the curious near shore in the protected waters of the Refuge and Tommy is a long time birder with a great eye and a fun personality.  Here we go.

It is a gorgeous 30 minute ride, plus some bird-triggered stops, to reach Refuge waters. Black Jack Peninsula is dotted with whooping cranes; some barely identifiable even through a scope and some just a couple hundred feet away.  Family groups can be found; doting parents work their way through the marshland teaching their brown tinged colts where the best meals can be found.  Groups of several dozen young singles hang out just eating and chilling.  In a couple years they too will mature, find their mate, and help bring this beautiful species further out of danger.

We poke along in the shallows in search of every manner of heron, egret, grebe and duck. We race across the open water.  Dolphins come to greet us.

The weather could not have been better. Whooping Cranes cooperated pretty well.  Tommy did a wonderful job educating and entertaining us.  It made for a great afternoon.

From the moment we launch our kayaks we hear the gargling-squawking call of a pair of cranes. They aren’t far…we paddle on, scanning the marshland as we go.  White heads shoot up above the grasses then disappear.  Again they appear.  A pair of cranes is working its way across the marsh chowing down on whatever it is they find there.  They feed for what seems like forever always keeping mostly out of sight.  They cackle and scold any roseate spoonbill who dares approach too close.  Just as we are about to move on, the pair of cranes moves out into the open.  We watch until they work their way back into the tall grass. What a beautiful sight.  We paddle on.

Look here, a flock of roseate spoonbills relaxing along the shore.

A pair of whoopers glide by on broad graceful wings.

Huge flocks of red headed ducks are arriving.  Hunters are getting ready to take advantage of the numbers when season reopens next weekend.  They are sprucing up blinds and scouting where flocks are congregating.  I suspect it will be noisy around here.

We joined the folks of Rockport, TX as they got a start to the Christmas Season.  The park was filled with booths with all manner of craft and gifty things.  Food trucks included shaved ice!  Pirates entertained the crowd from atop their mighty schooner.  Local businesses, churches and clubs went all out decorating lighted floats for the parade.  An air conditioner festooned with lights scurried and spun down the street with only a head visible and no obvious means of propulsion.

Santa appeared in clam diggers, a T-shirt and flip flops perched atop a huge yellow ladder truck.  Seahorses, dolphin, and sailboats join the more traditional Christmas trees and angles adorning the light poles along the parade route.

Like many southern winter events, we ended the evening with fireworks. The twist here at Rockport, the light show was accompanied by a live carillon concert.  Cast in Bronze;   is a portable brass bell carillon played by a flamboyant character that appears in a costume reminiscent of Phantom of the Opera and has only big moves as he hammers the levers that sound the bells.  It was a memorable evening.

The sky is a brilliant clear blue and the warmth of the unfiltered sun offsets the cool breeze.   Acres of coastal prairie move like a shimmering ocean all around us.  Raptors soar just above the bluestem and a curious coyote snuffles along the shoreline.  What a sight it must have been when this terrain went on as far as the eye could see.  Thanks Padre National Seashore…people need a place like this to recharge.

I had just about written this place off.   In an entire week we found only one tolerable day that wasn’t too cold and rainy to even get out of the house.  I decided, this isn’t the place for me.  Then the weather did a 180.  It is hard to write off such a marvelous place.  We will probably be back one day, maybe we will try Spring next time