I must admit, I was a little disappointed about going to the wildlife refuge. It was our last day in Rockport, and I wanted to go into Corpus Christi to visit the aquarium. I was vetoed by my parents since they wanted to see the refuge, so we went there instead. Thank goodness we went there instead! I’m sure the aquarium is great, but I really enjoyed our little adventure in Aransas. We got to see quite a few animals I had never seen in real life before, experienced some beautiful and unique flora, and had an overall wonderful trip.
Aransas Wildlife Refuge is a good 20- to 30-minute drive from Rockport, so you definitely need your own transportation. Unfortunately, the drive isn’t anything special. Since the flowers were blooming, that added a little beauty, but for the most part, it is a lot of vast, barren fields. There were a few tumble-down barns along the way that were pretty in their nostalgia.
The refuge was founded in 1937 and is 70,500 acres of preserved wilderness. It was created to preserve the vanishing wildlife of coastal Texas, an area rich in many species of animals, including almost 400 species of birds. It is probably most famous as the home of the whooping crane, one of the rarest and most endangered animals in the world. In the 1940s, only 16 birds remained, but as of 2004, the population has now grown to 194. That is still low, but they are doing much better. The only wild flock of whooping cranes in the world makes its home in Aransas every summer. They are notoriously elusive, so don’t expect to see one. But you never know - you may get lucky!
Even if you don’t see a crane, I can guarantee you will see some other types of animals. We saw hundreds of birds, even a flock of flamingos! They were resting in the marsh, all standing on one foot with their little pink heads buried under their wings. Flamingos are the sort of animal I can never picture out of a zoo, but I actually saw them on three separate occasions during our trip in Rockport. This place isn’t called "America’s Birdiest" just because they needed a tag line.
There are all sorts of other animals, including alligators (BIG ones), snakes, armadillos, and probably most exciting for me, Javelinas. Javelinas are strange-looking wild pigs with tiny little legs and a bowling-ball body. We saw some crossing the road, and I screamed "JAVELINAS" and jumped out of the car. I was able to take a few pictures before one of them saw me and bristled up. They are little but fierce-looking. I’m not ashamed to say I ran back to the car.
You can find directions, species lists, and rules at the park’s website. I really recommend taking the drive out to Aransas. It was spectacular.