6 TH Be AUD U-BIOWNS “Bt bes 
short distance north of Aransas wildlife refuge. Our best sight en route 
was snow and blue geese in two flocks; one we estimated at 1,500 and the 
other at 1,000. The snows outnumbered the blues 10 to 1 in both flocks. We 
saw numerous hawks, including many female marsh hawks, almost never 
a male. 
Tuesday we visited the Aransas refuge and reached Rockport that night. 
The bee changed to a mixture of eastern and western species, with the 
: western kinds making up a fairly 
large proportion of the total. 
sone 
Just outside Aransas we saw 
Audubon’s caracara, which we had 
seen on Alexander Sprunt’s Audubon 
tour of the Okeechobee region in 
Florida. We counted ten that day, and 
continued to see them frequently 
from there south into Mexico. The 
ground dove, reddish egret, three 
sandhill cranes, our first ladder- 
backed (‘Texas) woodpecker, and our 
first vermillion flycatcher were our 
principal finds at Aransas. We did 
not see the flock of wild whooping 
cranes, which the warden said were 
in an area closed off from the public 
at this time because it was about time 
for them to start to their unknown 
nesting grounds. Crip and Josephine, 
|. rr ... however, walked up to a few feet 
Captive whooping cranes, at “Aransas. fYom us in their enclosumegammmeees 
(Photo by Prudence Douglas) readily for Prudence to snap with her 
camera. A few weeks later their area was to be closed for their nesting 
venture, which resulted in the first baby whooping crane ever hatched in 
captivity. Rusty, the nestling, disappeared a few days later after making 
the first page of newspapers all over the country. The size of a whooping 
crane is unbelievable until you have stood four feet from him and looked 
him in the eye, at eye level. 
We were disappointed in not being able to stay in Mrs. Hagar’s cottages 
that night. We had made reservations, but some birding guests had failed 
to leave on schedule and we put up a block away. The next day, though, 
Mrs. Hagar put herself completely at our service and led us on a bird 
chase that for energy and good results equaled any we have ever ex- 
perienced with Amy Baldwin in the Chicago area. We listed 92 species, 
adding to our life lists the eared grebe and the tiny Mexican grebe, the 
lark sparrow singing, Inca dove, Mexican cormorant, black-crested tit- 
mouse, red-shafted flicker, golden-fronted woodpecker, road-runner, and a 
reddish egret in its rare white phase. The road-runner did not appear at 
the expected place while Mrs. Hagar was with us, but she told us to drive 
back that way just before sundown and he would almost certainly appear. 
