Home - Annual Whooping Crane Festival in Port Aransas, Texas

Whoop Whoop Hurray – What a Great 2018 Festival!

Thanks to our wonderful sponsors, vendors, volunteers, visitors and residents for making our ‘island come back’ festival so memorable.

Still recovering and rebuilding from Hurricane Harvey, Port Aransas has rallied and is hosting the annual Whooping Crane Festival, now in its 22nd year.

This festival is a one of a kind event, focused on the Whooping Crane-the rarest of cranes and one of the most endangered birds in the world. The festival is open to birders, photographers, families, and anyone who loves the outdoors and nature-related activities.

Port Aransas welcomes you and hopes that you will pardon our dust, as there is much to celebrate this year. The Whooping Crane population is at a record high –an estimated 431 cranes wintered at the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge last year. This summer, a record 63 Whooping Crane chicks fledged on the cranes’ breeding grounds at Wood Buffalo National Park in Canada. The Whooping Crane Festival celebrates the annual return of the cranes to their wintering habitat. The Texas Coastal Bend is the only place where you can see the world’s last naturally-occurring population of Whooping Cranes.

World renowned crane expert, Dr. George Archibald, Co-Founder of the International Crane Foundation, will be one of the featured speakers, along with representatives from Wood Buffalo National Park, Operation Migration, the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, and more. Festival activities include boat tours to view the Whooping Cranes, interactive workshops and seminars, birding and nature boat and bus tours, a painting and wine tasting class, and a free nature-related trade show.

Online registration is CLOSED.