Crabbing, Cantering & Cavorting
A Story and Photos By Penny Hong
Another Jaunt on the Jack Flash!
“Hey, Mom, er, could I have that one?
Dad? How about that one? Will you
share? Please?” Whooping Crane Chick,
Aransas National Wildlife Refuge
We could almost supply a hopeful monologue for the juvenile Whooping Crane
along the lines above. For nearly an hour
we had been motionless, rooted quietly along the shoreline near a
small pond watching a Whooping Crane family of three––two
adults and one chick. They were
“crabbing” big time!
The pond was alive with Blue
Crabs (Callinectes sapidus), the
mainstay of the Cranes’ diet and
why they fly 2,500 miles south
every October from Canada to
get the enzymes the crab gives
them for strong bones and egg
28
shells (a miracle symbiosis described in
previous Texas NOW issues on the Journey of the Whooping Cranes). With no
effort at all, all three were devouring Blue
Crab after Blue Crab––a welcome change
from years of drought and crane starvation.
an amateur. He kept dropping his catch.
Crane parents, you know, have to teach
their youngsters how to catch and eat these
delicacies while avoiding their sturdy and
powerful pinchers. However, “Mom” and
“Dad” were having none of this! They
were much too busy to take time teach-
However, the young
juvenile, on his own,
was
inexperienced,
Kathy Adams Clark And
Her Husband, Gary Clark