# Whooping Cranes 2014



## ChickoftheSea (May 14, 2009)

I'm fairly new to 2Cool, but am an experienced angler and boat lady, and a wildlife photographer.

I've been able to get out recently and photograph endangered Whooping Cranes, which were dining on Blue Crab - they eat crabs for calcium to fortify their egg shells. These shots were taken on the shores of the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge.

This crane is wearing a monitor; some are fitted with these so that their travels can be tracked. In two cases this year, monitored birds were noted as not having moved. When this was investigated, wildlife personnel had found that three cranes in another state had died due to predation; in KY and LA, a total of four cranes had been found shot. Rehabbers attempted to save one, but it was too badly injured and all four were lost.

We in Texas can celebrate that this year, the cranes so far have found abundant crabs to eat. We do need rain, however, so if you pray, please add that to your list!

(_All images Â©Cissy Beasley 2014_)


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## MichaelW (Jun 16, 2010)

First, welcome to the forum. Nice shots. You seem really close or must have a long lens. Where did you take these shots.


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## dbarham (Aug 13, 2005)

MichaelW said:


> First, welcome to the forum. Nice shots. You seem really close or must have a long lens. Where did you take these shots.


Aransas national wildlife refuge is where he said it was.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk


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## ChickoftheSea (May 14, 2009)

Thank you for the welcome, much appreciated. I was both fairly close and I do use a 500mm Nikon lens. I took these in late January from a boat on the shore of the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge.


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## ChickoftheSea (May 14, 2009)

dbarham said:


> Aransas national wildlife refuge is where he said it was.
> 
> Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk


Yes, and actually I'm a "she"!


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## DawgFish (Jun 24, 2004)

Great shots!!!


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## willsoonbfishin (Dec 8, 2006)

AWESOME shots. Welcome to 2cool and thanks for sharing.


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## barronj (Sep 30, 2013)

Great photos!

I took the kids to the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge last fall. It's a great place to take little kids for some outdoor education; they make it fun for everyone.

Anyhow, I was at the top of the lookout tower, and when I looked down in the bay, I saw a *racoon* in the water doing this same activity, snacking on crabs.

Did you fish there, or were you just shooting/documenting?


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## ChickoftheSea (May 14, 2009)

barronj said:


> Great photos!
> 
> I took the kids to the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge last fall. It's a great place to take little kids for some outdoor education; they make it fun for everyone.
> 
> ...


Thank you so much! That was a special trip just for photography. When I do fish in the area, it's likely to be more toward Cedar Bayou.

I love the coast so much because, as you say, you can see just about anything at any time...including raccoons eating! One day, I saw a raccoon shucking and eating oysters; however, no camera (of course). Recently, some friends were in the area of the Refuge and photographed a coyote swimming across the ICW and landing on the bank.

I'm glad you enjoy visiting ANWR; it's been really dry there but even still, there's almost always something to see, if you look closely enough.

Thanks again!


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## Bubbaette (Apr 10, 2005)

Cool whooping crane shots. I'm hoping to get down there to see them soon Headed down this weekend but probably no time to see them -- maybe next time


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## MichaelW (Jun 16, 2010)

ChickoftheSea said:


> Thank you for the welcome, much appreciated. I was both fairly close and I do use a 500mm Nikon lens. I took these in late January from a boat on the shore of the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge.


I thought maybe you were in a boat. I was down there about a month ago and I could see some of the cranes from the land side and couldn't get close enough. They need some rain down there bad. All the ponds are dried up. Again , nice work on the shots. I had never seen the tracking devices before.


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