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Green Source Texas flocks to Whooping Crane Fest

By Julie Thibodeaux
Mar 06 2026
Green Source Texas team at the Whooping Crane Fest in Port Aransas last month.

Members of the Green Source Texas Team traveled to the Whooping Crane Festival in Port Aransas in February. Pictured Thomas Johns, Wendel Withrow, Julie Thibodeaux and Karl Thibodeaux.

We came, we saw the whoopers, we conferenced.

Two weeks ago, as part of our new statewide coverage as Green Source Texas, our team headed down to the Texas Gulf Coast to attend the Whooping Crane Festival in Port Aransas. Friends of GSTX from North Texas, including members of the Greater Fort Worth Sierra Club, met up with us at the event.

The 29th annual fest celebrates the return of the last remaining wild population of whooping cranes to their wintering habitat at the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge and the greater Texas Coastal Bend.

The four-day event features speakers, birding trips, boating trips, nature tours, photography workshops and an expo.

"This was our first state-wide reporting trip," said Green Source Texas director Wendel Withrow. "Stay tuned for more stories to come."

Read more articles from the trip:

CONSERVATION ROCK STAR HEADLINES WHOOPING CRANE FESTIVAL. The festival kicked off with author and whooping crane photographer Michael Forsberg.

TEXAS MARINE SCIENCE INSTITUTE IS TOP CENTER FOR RESEARCH, EDUCATION AND WILDLIFE REHAB, The University of Texas Marine Science Institute in Port Aransas is the oldest and most significant marine research facility on the Texas coast.

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