“More whoopers than I’ve seen anywhere!” exclaimed one of the thirty participants during the Shorebirds of Welder Flats field trip on Saturday, January 30th. The joint fund raising event for Friends of the Port O’Connor Library, Friends of the Seadrift Library and San Antonio Bay Partnership began at the Seadrift library with coffee, breakfast breads and a talk by John Karges, Associate Director of Field Science, The Nature Conservancy. John’s remarkable photographs from his field work highlighted his insightful presentation about the importance of the Welder Ranch to the wildlife that depends on the wetland and coastal prairie habitats.
Armed with binoculars and spotting scopes and guided by birding experts, participants toured the beautiful Welder-Cliburn Ranch taking in views of dabbling ducks, diving kingfishers, sweet little plovers, gorgeous white pelicans, and the many other birds utilizing the ranches pristine wetland. The highlight of the tour was seeing the majestic whooping cranes: pairs, family units and the most remarkable, a group of 7 sub-adults all together. Seeing twenty-two of one of the most endangered birds in North America is a true testimony to the supportive habitat provided by the ranch.
Access to the ranch for this unique opportunity was provided through the generosity of Kathleen (Welder) Carey. And if that was not enough, Kathleen and her family put out a delicious chili lunch complete with cornbread, all the fix’ns and dessert back at the Seadrift Library. The frosting on the cake was the presentation by wildlife photographer Leslie Natale. Her gorgeous photos of birds and other wildlife on the Welder-Cliburn ranch and wonderful commentary about birding by a non-birder was a wonderful conclusion to a special day.
Like this event and the Powderhorn Ranch tours of 2015, The Friends of the Port O’Connor Library and San Antonio Bay Partnership plan to team up again to provide more unique and exciting opportunities to help support their causes which benefit our local community and environment.
