Aransas National Wildlife Refuge

Alligator at Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, Austwell, Texas

We took a day trip to Aransas National Wildlife Refuge near Austwell, Texas. We left our condo on North Padre Island, crossed the Packery Channel to Mustang Island. We took the scenic route driving about 8 miles on the beach to Port Aransas. 

We saw a lot of people surf fishing on Mustang Island. Most were catching whiting and hardhead catfish. 



There are a lot of beach homes and condos near Port Aransas and it's a popular vacation spot, especially during spring break and summer. 


Floating oil rigs parked near the ferry which goes from Port Aransas to Aransas Pass. 

We drove through Rockport, across Capano Bay, heading to Austwell, Texas and the refuge (about 25 miles from Rockport).The original refuge headquarters is closed due to damage from Hurricane Harvey in August, 2017. Their current headquarters is in a mobile home.  The refuge manager told us that the cement building had major roof and mold damage that it will need to be demolished and completely rebuilt at a later date. Garry had hunted in the area and had been to the refuge 15 years ago and at that time saw many displays in the headquarters, which were destroyed with the hurricane. 

I followed directions for a change and didn't try to feed any animals. 

 There are nice boardwalks across the wetland areas. 

 Some of the wetland areas have observation platforms. I stayed on the platform! 

The majority of the wild whooping crane population comes from Wood Bison Park in Canada to spend the winter at the Aransas Refuge. We saw on the local news that the  Twenty-Third Annual Whooping Crane Festival  was taking place in Port Aransas during our stay, so we stopped in at the Community Center for the birder's show, which was very interesting. 

We spotted a pair of whooping cranes in the distance while on an observation platform. 

Mustang Lake Observation Platform - Notice the many vultures roosting in the trees.

In the past Garry had walked on boardwalks through the wetland area near Mustang Lake, and observed many water birds and other wildlife. We could see the damaged boardwalks which are not yet repaired. 

Turkey Vultures

Black Vultures 

We saw many whitetail deer on the refuge. Garry saw many javalina on previous trips, and I really wanted to see one, but we didn't see any this time. 

Jones Lake Observation Platform

We saw many ospreys in the area, but only one bald eagle.

Blue-Winged Teal 

Reddish Egret

We saw this 9 ft gator near Jones Lake. We took the photos from the car! 

It's nice when you can zoom in to get a closeup! 

We drove the auto-tour loop through the refuge and this deer posed for us.  

Many deer came out to feed close to sunset. 

Many yards in the area have damage from the burrows of pocket gophers. 

Back at the condo, Garry had company while cleaning some Whiting he caught. 

Pelicans, Egrets and Herons are always ready for fish handouts. 

I made some fish tacos with the Whiting for a tasty dinner on the deck. 

Little Blue Heron near the condo

American Oystercatcher

Another beautiful sunset from the deck!

Black-crowned Night Heron

Every night Black-crowned Night Herons came to feed on our dock. It was entertaining to watch them catch many fish! 

 

Camping in Cassville, WI

Camping - Nelson Dewey State Park 
Garry and I took a long weekend at the end of July and camped for a few days in Nelson Dewey State Park, near Cassville, WI, on the Mississippi River. The park is small and the campground wasn't crowded. There were a few short hiking trails. The scenery was beautiful and we learned more about Wisconsin history by taking a tour at the Stonefield Historic Site, including the Dewey Mansion. We thought it was rather funny that Governor Dewey wanted to make Cassville the capital, since it is basically at the end of the state. 

We only saw one deer - I think this is Bambi!

River view from the park

View of Stonefield Site from Nelson Dewey State Park

The river was high and there was some flooding.

I had to ask my botanist coworker what this thorny tree was -Honey Locust 

We tried to get to the river from this road 

OK, we turned around. 

Cool web in the woods! 

Quiet, shady campsite on the hill above the railroad tracks and river.

Grilled Portobello mushrooms with crabmeat

I love cooking while camping, but it was very HOT on this trip, so we didn't cook a lot. This isn't a great photo - but they tasted good! I took 2 portobello mushroom caps, scraped out the gills, and stuffed them with a combination of crabmeat, bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese and basil. Then I wrapped them in foil and grilled for about 15 minutes. Yummy! The original recipe called for shrimp, not crab and we'll try that next time.