151 Species on this Custom List

To upload the attached Custom list and Quiz yourself on birds that may be seen on this VENT Tour, right-click HERE and select "Save Target As.." (You may want to rename the file KingRanch.xml)

King Ranch & Whooping Cranes click for tour details

Apr. 5-Apr. 9, 2008

Whooping Crane.

Photo: Greg Lasley

A brief introduction to the famous King Ranch, a vast and varied land with a wide selection of birds but relatively few visiting birders, followed by a day with Whooping Cranes and numerous other waterbirds at Aransas National Wildlife Refuge and around Corpus Christi.

The King Ranch, comprising 825,000 acres of grassland, thorn scrub, and live oak groves, has been owned since its founding by one family with a tradition of management for wildlife as well as cattle. This tour also includes another famous birding location—Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, where Whooping Cranes and a spectacular assemblage of other waterbirds may be seen.

We'll be spending time on three of the King Ranch's four divisions. The Santa Gertrudis Division is primarily pastured brushland with scattered trees surrounding stock ponds and small lakes. Typical birds include Black-bellied Whistling-Duck, Least Grebe, Neotropic Cormorant, Anhinga, Harris's and White-tailed hawks, Crested Caracara, Wild Turkey, Greater Roadrunner, Golden-fronted Woodpecker, Vermilion and Scissor-tailed flycatchers, Great Kiskadee, Cave Swallow, and Pyrrhuloxia.

We will also bird the Norias Division. There is a remarkable change in habitat here with large oak groves interspersed with grasslands. A more tropical influence at Norias is reflected by the presence of such birds as White-tipped Dove, Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet, Couch's Kingbird, Green Jay, Long-billed Thrasher, Olive Sparrow, and Audubon's Oriole. Our primary focus, however, will be to find the two nesting specialties of Norias: the Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl and Tropical Parula, two of North America's rarest and most sought-after birds.

The tour concludes with a day-and-a-half in the coastal habitats of the Rockport area where we will see a fine selection of waterbirds including, of course, the famous Whooping Cranes of Aransas. Other species of note in this vicinity include Reddish Egret; White and White-faced ibis; Roseate Spoonbill; Clapper Rail; Piping and Snowy plovers; American Oystercatcher; Long-billed Curlew; Gull-billed, Sandwich, and Least terns; Black Skimmer; and Seaside Sparrow.

For those would like to spend more time in Texas, this tour can be combined with our Austin, Texas Birding and Nature Festival, April 9-13, 2008.

Only one motel change; leisurely half-day boat trip to Aransas Refuge included; birding both along roadsides and on relatively short walks; limited restaurant choices in Kingsville.

To Get (upload) a Custom List from this Forum and add it to your computer:

1. Open the Posting of the Custom List you want to upload to your computer.
2. Right-click on the word "Attachment" at the bottom of the post -- it will be a hyperlink and underlined.
3. Select "Save Target As..." and save to your desktop. (You may want to rename the file - but do not change the .xml file extension)
4. Open your Thayer Birding Software birding program version 3.5 or 3.9.
5. Click the Custom List icon
6. In the upper left corner of the Custom List screen, click on the word File.
7. Click Import. Select the file you just uploaded to your desktop. Click Open.
8. The Custom List will now appear on your computer with your other Custom Lists. (You may rename the Custom List if you like.)