I thought you made a typo there but no, Texas (National?) law says you have to maintain a minimum distance of 2000 feet from whooping cranes. What are you to do if they fly towards you? Run really really fast?
Anyway, that aside, I also googled Port Aransas and this site Whooping Crane Festival | says "The Coastal Bend is the only spot in the United States where the endangered whooping crane can be viewed at close range, and the Port Aransas Chamber of Commerce celebrates this astonishing natural wonder with an annual festival honoring these grand birds. "
"The Coastal Bend is the only spot in the United States where the endangered whooping crane can be viewed at close range, and the Port Aransas Chamber of Commerce celebrates this astonishing natural wonder with an annual festival honoring these grand birds. "
I think the 2000 foot minimum distance refers to migrating birds. On their wintering grounds at Port Aransas Nature Preserve there are watch-towers and boat tours to view the cranes at close distance, all quite legally.
Best practice is to be as non-intrusive as possible. When I saw my Whooping Cranes last year, I was about 2,500 feet away and could make them out through a spotting scope. The best optics the birders around me had were just barely able to make out the leg bands on the birds (3 differently colored bands on each leg). Were the birds to have flown closer, we would have stayed put and made no effort to advance.
I think the 2000 foot minimum distance refers to migrating birds. On their wintering grounds at Port Aransas Nature Preserve there are watch-towers and boat tours to view the cranes at close distance, all quite legally.
Yeah, I was on a boat tour. Also, the camera I used has a good zoom, so I wasn't right in the bird's face, ha ha. (though we were quite close) Going on the Port Aransas wildlife refuge website, they don't mention any distance laws for their star bird.
