Travel Texas Learn About The Port Aransas Whooping Cranes Hundreds of whooping cranes spend their winters on the Texas coast. By Caroline Rogers Caroline Rogers Caroline Rogers is the Travel and Culture Editor at Southern Living, where she writes and edits travel stories exploring the American South. She joined the magazine in 2016 and since then has reported on the beaches of the Florida Keys, opera in Houston’s Theater District, and waterfalls across West Virginia, among many other spaces and places. Southern Living's editorial guidelines Updated on April 21, 2023 Fact checked by Khara Scheppmann Fact checked by Khara Scheppmann Khara Scheppmann has 12 years of marketing and advertising experience, including proofreading and fact-checking. She previously worked at one of the largest advertising agencies in the southwest. brand's fact checking process You can't miss them. Standing nearly five feet tall—with a wingspan rivaling the world's biggest birds—the Port Aransas whooping cranes really make an entrance. Each year, whooping cranes settle near Port Aransas on Texas's Mustang Island. When summer ends, they set their sights southward towards the Gulf and embark on a migration thousands of miles southward from Canada. From November until March, birders can glimpse the majestic birds in the wild at the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge and the Texas Coastal Bend. Whooping cranes, known by the scientific name Grus americana, are some of the tallest avians in the world. They have an average lifespan of 22-24 years with bodies averaging 4.9 feet and wingspans of 7.5 feet. According to National Geographic, "These majestic white birds are the tallest in North America. They live in family groups and frequent marshes, shallow lakes, and lagoons. Cranes feed by foraging with their bills and gobbling up plants, shellfish, insects, fish, and frogs." steverts/Getty Images They are also an endangered species. Audubon explains, "As recently as 1912, about 90 birds wintered at various points in coastal Texas and Louisiana, and there was a nonmigratory population in southwestern Louisiana as well. By 1941 the Texas wintering flock was down to only 15 birds (another six were still resident in Louisiana, but that flock soon dwindled away)" due to habitat loss, ecological events, and predation. In the following years, the flock's numbers gradually rose thanks to management, captive breeding, and reintroduction efforts, but they remain a species with precarious numbers in danger of extinction. In recent years, as reported by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, "biologists have completed analysis of aerial surveys of the Aransas-Wood Buffalo whooping crane population during January 2022 through February 2022. The survey indicated 543 whooping cranes, including 31 juveniles and 196 adult pairs, in the primary survey area (approximately 160,125 acres) centered on Aransas National Wildlife Refuge near Austwell, Texas. This marks the fifth year in a row that the population has topped the 500 mark." It's encouraging news for those studying the population of whooping cranes wintering amid Texas's Gulf breezes and protected habitats. Port Aransas is home to several locations along the Great Texas Coastal Birding Trail, which invites visitors to explore the area's coastal communities and wetlands, and possibly glimpse their populations of migratory birds. To learn more about the annual Whooping Crane Festival in Port Aransas, visit their site. More information is also available from the Port Aransas/Mustang Island Tourism Bureau & Chamber of Commerce. Have you ever visited Texas's Gulf coast? What's your next wish-list destination? Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Tell us why! Other Submit Sources Southern Living is committed to using high-quality, reputable sources to support the facts in our articles. Read our editorial guidelines to learn more about how we fact check our content for accuracy. Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. Whooping crane. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. Record high number of whooping cranes wintered in Texas.