Our day at Aransas National Wildlife Refuge

On our way to the refuge we had to stop as there were about 50 turkeys in the road, here are a few after they crossed the road. I was stunned at how many turkeys there were, wow! They had traffic stopped in both directions until they decided to get off the road.

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This was one of the Tom turkeys at the refuge upon our arrival. I'm so glad we went first thing in the morning. We saw a lot of birds and animals and there were only 2 other vehicles there. When we left the refuge at 11:30am it was becoming packed with people and the animals were headed off for their afternoon naps.

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We decided to walk the rail trail and came around a bend in the trail and ran into this doe. I think she was as shocked as we were. I took this photo after she went down the trail a bit and turned back around again to stare at us.

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As we walked the trail I was keeping my eyes open for gators and other critters. We came upon this tail and it was only about 4 to 5 feet from us. It took a moment for it to register with my brain that this was a gators tail and we were a bit too close. Michael's eyes were as big as saucers when I pointed the tail out to him and what was attached to it.

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The gator was about 8ft long and it scared Michael when it swatted its tail at us. Not a very happy gator at all. Michael had had enough and was ready to go back to the truck but I managed to get him to finish the trail where we saw 2 more gators which were on the other side of a canal and at a safer distance. I think from now on Michael will listen when I tell him to pay attention on the trails! Michael wanted to see gators and he got to see gators, lol.

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This is what the trail looked like we were walking down. The trail has canals on both sides that run along it. Very hard to see what is there until your right next to it. The gators go back and forth across the trail to the canals.

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Common Moorhen.

This Moorhen was trying to attract a female and made an awful racket and scared Michael pretty bad, he was still nervous about the gator. Can you imagine this photo as a jigsaw puzzle, yikes!

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One of many Bullfrogs we saw.

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Turkey Vulture balancing on the fishing pier as it walked down the railing.

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He liked the fishing pier, no gators.

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He said he was watching the seaweed dancing in the waves...

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Great Blue Heron before Michael made him fly

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Blue Heron in flight, Michael just couldn't help scaring it

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Canvasback ducks there were hundreds of them

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Canvasbacks out in the bay and just a small portion of them. Michael and I wondered if they ever get tired of just floating around?

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There was a little bit of water in Jones lake and we spotted these two gators. The smaller gator was probably about 5 or 6ft. The other gator was HUGE!!

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Redtailed Hawk

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Michael was checking out the new 20ft observation deck. They've also built a new 40ft observation deck but are still working on it.

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A view of the boardwalk from the 20ft observation deck

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Michael left me up on the observation tower and headed down the boardwalk

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Michael at the end of the boardwalk using the viewers to see what's out in the bay

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Rosetta spoonbills

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And for my friend John, a photo of a bay shrimp boat, name of the boat was the "Lady W". See John I was paying attention :o) There were a lot of shrimp boats working the bay today.

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Savannah Sparrow

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Possibly a female warbler, but not sure.

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We decided to take the 16 mile driving trail and found this gator at Hog lake. There was no water there except for this large puddle, poor gator. They sure do need some rain.

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Juvenile hawk, of what species I am not sure. We saw a lot of birds of prey today at the refuge and on the road between there and here.

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Male American Kestrel flying through the trees (also known in the old days as a sparrow hawk)

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Michael spotted this Kestrel on a sign as I was driving, good eye Michael! I love the color of the males.

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Black Vulture

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And of course it wouldn't be a good day at the refuge if you didn't see an Armadillo!

We had a great day and I'm so glad we decided to go to ANWR. I think Michael learned a valuable lesson too about keeping your eyes open when your walking the trails!

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