Whooping Crane Festival

About the Event

Each year since 1996, the Whooping Crane Festival in Port Aransas, Texas has celebrated the annual return of the cranes to their wintering habitat at the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge. In 2025, the festival is back and ready to celebrate its 28th anniversary!

The four-day event will feature renowned speakers, birding trips, boating trips, nature tours, photography workshops, a trade show, and much more.

Schedule of Events:

6 am to 1 pm - King Ranch Tour
7 am to 11:30 am - Whooping Crane Boat Tour
10 am to 2:30 pm - Whooping Crane Boat Tour
12:30 pm to 5 pm - Whooping Crane Boat Tour
7:30 am to 1 pm - Explore Lamar Peninsula with Mikael Behrens
8 am to 10 am - Hop Aboard The R/V Katy For A "Scientific" Experience
11 am to 1 pm - Hop Aboard The R/V Katy For A "Scientific" Experience
2:30 pm to 4:30 pm - Hop Aboard The R/V Katy For A "Scientific" Experience
8 am to 11 am - "Getting Close to Nature" with Ruth Hoyt
10 am to 10:50 am - "Collaborations for Cranes: The Whooping Crane Center of Texas" with Chris Corpus, Dallas Zoo
1 pm to 1:50 pm - "Collaborations for Cranes: The Whooping Crane Center of Texas" with Chris Corpus, Dallas Zoo
2 pm to 2:50 pm - "Collaborations for Cranes: The Whooping Crane Center of Texas" with Chris Corpus, Dallas Zoo
10 am to noon - "Flight and Action at the Jetty" Field Trip with Kathy Adams Clark
10:30 am to 11:30 am - "Whooping Cranes in the Eastern Migratory Population" with Stephanie Schmidt
10:30 am to 12:30 pm - Island Birding Bus Tour
12:30 am to 2 pm - Explore Local Waterways
1 pm to 2 pm - "Whooping Cranes and the Landscapes They Traverse" with Matti Bradshaw, International Crane Foundation
1 pm to 4 pm - Wine, Whine, & Design
1:30 pm to 2:30 pm - "My Life with Cranes" Book Signing with Dr. George Archibald
2:30 pm to 3:30 pm - Colonial waterbirds coping with a changing Texas coast", with Dale Gawlik, Harte Research Insitute
3 pm to 6 pm - Photography Lessons on the Water
4 pm to 5 pm - Give a Whoop: Education and Prosecutions to Save a Species" with Dr. Carter Crouch and Kevin McAbee, International Crane Foundation
4:30 pm to 6 pm - Sunset Wine & Dolphin Cruise
6 pm to 7:30 pm - "Into Whooperland – A Photographer’s Journey with Whooping Cranes" Michael Forsberg

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