NANPA Whooping Crane Regional Event Trip Report
A group of whooping cranes stand in a field near Rockport, TX.
It may have been windy and rainy, but our 2024 NANPA Whooping Crane Regional Event was still a huge success.
Our goal was to photograph one of the rarest birds in North America, the Whooping Crane (Grus americana). These 5ft fall cranes, which number around 800 world-wide now, but once were so close to the brink of extinction that there were thought to be only 21 left in the 1940’s.
They winter along the gulf coast in Texas each year, with about 536 individuals that migrate from Northern Canada, which is their breeding grounds.
We not only found the birds, but were able to photograph 42 of them including 4 colts.
A family of Whooping Cranes takes flight.
The workshop, put on by the North American Nature Photography Association (NANPA) and led by expert photographer Jennifer Leigh Warner was held in the beginning of December. After weeks of beautiful weather in South Texas, the report took a turn, and rain and wind was predicted for the entire event… and they weren’t wrong.
A whooping crane stands in the rain in the Aransas Wildlife Refuge.
However, rain can make for some interesting nature images, so the 6 women photographers headed out on a boat to the Aransas Wildlife Refuge and was rewarded with incredible images of the birds standing in the rain.
After a wet and exciting morning out on the boat, the photographers were eager to find somewhere more dry to photograph the cranes and we moved into a bird blind for the evening session. This did not disappoint.
For the next few days we photographed along the gulf coast, looking for other wild residents that winter in the area. We photographed, Brown and White Pelicans, Roseate Spoonbills, White-tail Deer, Sanderlings, Dolphins, Javelina, Armadillo, Bald Eagle, Mockingbirds, Crested Cara Cara, Loggerhead Shrike, Osprey and the very surprising American Flamingo among other things.
NANPA Whooping Crane Event
All in all, the event was a huge success and we can’t wait for the next one. Thank you all who came out and braved the weather to see these incredible birds.