Whoopers and Ghost Towns

There's just one spot to see migratory whooping cranes in winter. These are 5 foot tall long-legged wading birds with 7 foot wingspans, and there are only around 800 left worldwide. They were down to 20-something birds in the 1940s, but environmental law, volunteer efforts and establishment of Aransas National Wildlife Refuge helped them make a comeback.

Whooping cranes hjnting off Lamar Beach Road, Rockport, Texas — Foraging off Lamar Beach Road

Where the Whoopers Are

I've read reports of rare whooper sightings with the usual sandhill cranes in New Mexico's Bosque Del Apache National Wildlife Area. But every time I checked at the visitor's center for reported sightings, they always said, "Not this year." After some research, I decided to travel to the whoopers' winter feeding grounds in Aransas National Wildlife Refuge. That's near Rockport, Texas, on the Gulf Coast.

Ghost Towns On The Way Or Just Chili?

After our recent trip through Nevada ghost towns and other night attractions, I decided to look for more ghost towns along our route in Texas. Turned out we'd be travelling right through Terlingua. The place is known for its annual chili cookoff. But it was also a miner's hangout during the cinnabar (mercury) boom in the 20th century. You need mercury to make igniters for bombs and other military ordnance, and Terlingua's cinnabar reserves were among the richest anywhere. This was super important to the US military during World Wars I and II, and Terlingua blossomed. But Terlingua's Chisos Mining Company went bankrupt in 1942. The Esperado Mining Company bought the assets, then shut down operations after WWII ended. Terlingua lost population and all but died.

Inside the Starlight Theater, Terlingua, Texas

But the first Terlingua Chili Cookoff in 1967 together with its accompanying national magazine article jumpstarted the town. Nowadays the place is known for tourism. The food's pretty good too.

Doing a bit more research (thanks, Google), I discovered Terlingua's St. Agnes Church and the nearby Starlight Theater. The Starlight has been restored and reborn as a restaurant, and serves up great drinks and dinner. Unfortunately, the place stays pretty full until closing time. But St. Agnes Church, while also restored and still in use on Sundays, is always unlocked, empty and accessible after dark.

First Stop at Bosque

Our initial stop was at Bosque Del Apache. I knew where to look for javalinas from seeing and missing them before, and was rewarded with a small group of them on the return road of the North Loop. Right after I got there and set up, though, several clueless visitors drove through and spooked them all away. Instead of a group shot, I had to be satisfied with one decent individual shot of the last one standing as the rest loped away.

That night, I made use of clear skies at the Chupadero Mountain View RV Park for some fun light-painted shots with starry backgrounds. We discovered last year that the owner of Bosque Birdwatchers RV Park, our usual RV stop for Bosque Del Apache, had retired due to poor health. Chupadero Mountain View RV Park is maybe 1/4 mile further away from Bosque, so there wasn't much difference.

Strange lights behind the office, Chupadero Mountain View RV Park

The Way To Fort Davis

After stops in El Paso and Fort Hancock (Andy mailed a postcard to Red there after he got out of Shawshank), we got to Davis Mountains State Park. At the visitors center we found out about the Skyline Drive North Lookout Shelter, a CCC-era stone lookout at the end of the paved road. I took a look and decided to light it that night.

Skyline Drive North Lookout Center, Fort Davis State Park

But what I didn't count on was the lack of clear lines of sight for the structure. And I couldn't position the winter Milky Way over the building. I lit and shot anyway, but didn't get the picture I'd previsualized. Oh well, you can't always get what you want.

I didn’t know it at the time, but that was the last clear night I’d have for the next two weeks.

On To Terlingua

I previsualized better and captured more satisfying shots in Terlingua. I lit the interior of St Agnes Church - the offertory statue of a monk, front altar screen, communion desk. Also put a light in one of the pews for a mystery worshiper. But I didn't do the exterior - it was cloudy, with limited stars. And I was running out of time.

At the doors in daylight, Saint Agnes (St Inez) Church, Terlingua

Lit up at night inside Saint Agnes (St Inez) Church, Terlingua

Saintly statue inside Saint Agnes (St Inez) Church, Terlingua

The next night, I lit and shot at the Terlingua Cemetery. Again cloudy skies, but otherwise an embarrassment of riches - lots of tombstones and crosses to light. I did two setups, scenes next to each other, but lowered the camera near ground level for a third view of the second scene.

Then I lit niches, and behind or to the side of near and more distant crosses. That suggested depth without stealing too much attention from the front stuff.

And there were many more possibilities I didn't shoot. Next time, with a clear sky and no moon...

Big Bend Drivethrough

We passed through Big Bend National Park, a gorgeous desert mountain landscape. We stopped for a short hike to the Jim Nails ranch site, and my camera fell out of its Spider holster. I discovered too much metal wear on the camera pin to keep it in the holster. Fortunately, the pin on another camera had less wear, and I could switch it around.

We also stopped at the trailhead to Mule's Ears. They're a cool-looking natural feature, and the small part of the trail we walked had great vistas of the Chihuahuan Desert.

Mules Ears trail, Big Bend National Park

Car streaks and star trails at Marathon Motel & RV Park

After making ourselves a promise to return and explore more, we pushed on to Marathon. We were staying at the Marathon Motel & RV Park because of its very dark Bortle 1 skies. As it turned out, it was another partly cloudy night and there was a fair amount of ambient light from another RV, so I didn’t get a good chance at the winter Milky Way here either.

Not-so-dark skies at Marathon Motel & RV Park

Finally - Winter Whoopers at Rockport

We'd seen the forecast, and knew it was coming for us. Winter storm / freeze warnings induced us to stay at the La Quinta in Rockport.

Approaching winter storm, Rockport, Texas

The next day, we found the big white birds with dark lores inland from Rockport's Lamar Beach Road, adjacent to the NWR. I needed a 1.4X teleconverter on the RF 200-800mm f/6.3-9 IS lens to even pull in birds for pictures. They were hanging out on private land with no access, so we couldn't get very close. Seemed like they were foraging for grain or seeds in the grass, and possibly for small marine critters in marshy areas. After a couple circuits of the large block that included Lamar Beach Road, it got too cold.

Adult and juvenile whooping cranes, Lamar Beach Road, Rockport, Texas

Turkey vulture in flight, Aransas National Wildlife Refuge

We explored a bit more in Aransas, and found the elevated trail to the Observation Tower. That area must be the turkey vulture capital of the world, because we found a tree full of 10 to 15 of them. There were several more circling overhead, waiting...

We retired for drinks at Rockport's not-obviously-located Whiskey Palm Bar. Bartender Mark mixed us two rounds, a Buffalo Trace Manhattan for my wife and a birthday cake martini for me: chocolate syrup, chocolate liqueur, vanilla vodka. The menu says it's made with Mozart chocolate liquor, amaretto, vanilla vodka and cream. Mark painted the glass with chocolate syrup, then streaked the surface with lines of syrup. He crosshatched those lines with a toothpick for a pretty chocolate lattice. The result was delicious.

Great Egrets?

We checked out of the La Quinta the next day and headed for Mustang Island. When we got close, we were presented with a short ferry ride. But I worried about our RV's 11,000 lb weight on a small ferry. So we didn't take it.

Instead we turned around and headed back to Lamar Beach Road. There were the usual cranes inland, and I took a couple shots. But they were pretty far away, so we decided to circle and go. Offshore there were what looked like a pair of great egrets foraging in the shallow saltwater. I decided to have us stop so I could work with them photographically a bit before we left for good.

Nope - Those Are Whoopers!

Those are whoopers! - off Lamar Beach Road, Rockport, Texas

When I peered through my 800mm*1.4*1.6 = 1792mm FF equivalent lens (an extremely narrow, magnified view), I discovered it was a pair of whoopers. Whoopers! Relatively close and large in my viewfinder. After the disappointing previous day, I hadn’t expected anything usable. But here were a couple of them.

As I shot them bending down for crabs and moving around, a few gulls flew up and started swimming around them. I guess they feel safety in small groups. When a gull got a little too close, one of the cranes flew at it to chase it off.

Watching for predators - off Lamar Beach Road, Rockport, Texas

After 1/2 hour or so in temperatures around 35 F, I got too cold and packed up. Low angle midwinter sun and the cloudy sky diffuser softened early afternoon light for reasonable shadows. I would have shot anyway in full sun, but the results wouldn't have looked as good.

Out in the water with friends - whooping crane off Lamar Beach Road, Rockport, Texas

Back to Terlingua

After another beautiful return drive through Big Bend National Park, we were back in Terlingua. We discovered the Starlight Theater restaurant and bar was closed for maintenance - we'd seen the posted sign on our last visit there a few days ago, but forgot about it. So instead, we had drinks and dinner specials at La Kiva. A drunk cowboy next to me kept incoherently trying to talk to me, and ended by leaving me a CDR wrapped with his name (looked like Roger Muon) and phone number. Then we drove up to St. Agnes Church in Terlingua ghost town.

I'd already lit and photographed the interior, so my goal this time was the exterior, with winter Milky Way curving above it if possible. Alas, the moon was 70% full and high overhead, so any pale winter Milky Way was unfortunately washed out. I lit all three church windows and the open doorway, then went looking for outdoor vantage points that would show the lit windows and door with pale starfields overhead. I tried the TS-E 17mm f/4L tilt-shift lens for correct vertical perspective, but didn't like any of the shots I was getting with it. So I decided I didn't care about camera tilt distortion and went with the wider view of the Sigma 14-24mm f/2.8 DG DN Art instead.

St. Agnes Church night welcome, Terlingua Ghost Town

The shot that worked best was a view from the front northwest corner of the church. I had enough of an angle on the three lit windows that they showed in my shot. I carefully positioned the door light so it didn't show in the picture. Then I noticed the weird shadow being cast on the front of the church by the moon. In an attempt to fill it with another light, I ended up lighting the cross above the door. It didn't fill the moon shadow very well with the grid on it, but an gridless light would have lit everything up too much. The shot with the gridded light focused on the cross looked cool, so I kept it.

The lit cross over the door, St. Agnes Church, Terlingua Ghost Town

On our way to Van Horn for the next night's stop, we unwrapped Roger Moon's CDR and played it, not knowing what to expect. (Couldn't find anything on Google for Roger Muon music, but Roger Moon music did come up.) The man had mumbled about religion and showing me what Texas is really like while I paid him no attention, so for all I knew, it could have been a sermon. Instead, it was a collection of his country music, an excellent set of story songs. He must be down on his luck, because they'd declined his credit card. The bartender at La Kiva said he couldn't drink there anymore unless he paid cash.

I know well how difficult a musician's life can be. I never tried to support myself from music - always had a day job alongside. Club owners don't want to pay you, booking gigs and traveling to them are challenges, hauling and setting up a 200 pound electric grand piano is backbreaking, and getting home at 3 or 4 in the morning gets old after awhile. Still, there's nothing like the rush of stepping onstage, playing, and hearing that audience reaction. It's addictive, even after any remote chance at monetary or popular success is gone.

The Preaching Sculpture

I'd seen daylight pictures of the Maker of Peace sculpture at Seminole Canyon State Park, so I already had an idea for it in my head. I lit the Maker of Peace as if he was delivering a sermon to the canyon before him. There he stood with his arms outstretched, beseeching the empty desert to peacefulness. But no one was listening, or even there at all. The best he could do was call to moonbeams and a passing airplane.

Maker of Peace calling to moonbeams and a passing airplane - Seminole Canyon State Park, Texas

Solitary Night Shots and Mental Moon Ramblings

When I'm out doing night photography, it feels very solitary. It's just me and the camera and tripod and the lights on whatever foreground feature I'm featuring. As I shuffle around adjusting lights and changing camera position, I understand maybe a little of what astronauts feel when they walk the moon. The bumpy terrain looks very alien in the dark, with weird shadows from my headlamp. I feel very isolated - the only other nearby human for miles is my wife, sleeping in the RV mother ship and waiting for my return. Eventually, I'm as satisfied with tonight's pictures as I'm going to get, so I text a message that I'm coming and pack up. Then I carefully retrace my steps up the uneven stone pathway to the parking area and the waiting RV.

Preaching to an empty canyon - Maker of Peace, Seminole Canyon State Park, Texas

We passed through El Paso again and camped once more at Chupadero Mountain View RV Park. With a 70% waxing moon, though, night shots weren't happening. I'd done pretty well with pictures on this trip, so I wasn't complaining.

Shot Notes

I had two types (maybe three) of pictures to shoot, so I brought three sets of gear. For the whoopers, I had my usual R7 camera with big 200-800mm f/6.3-9 telephoto zoom on a gimbal-headed tripod. I also brought the R5 II camera with 70-300mm zoom to wear on my waist. (That was the camera and lens that fell off at Big Bend.)

I also had a Leica SL3 for its 60MP high resolution, low noise sensor, and a 14-24mm f/2.8 ultrawide zoom for light painting night shots. Because there potentially were taller buildings, I also brought a wideangle TS-E 17mm f/4 tilt shift lens. By shifting the lens up instead of tilting the camera, this lens gets you pictures of tallish buildings without them appearing to lean.

And I brought a Lumix S5 II camera and Lumix S 20-60mm lens for travel / daylight pictures. I had both bags of tricks - the LED light panel bag, and the small remote flashes bag. I also carried three light stands for the lights and a second lightweight tripod with ballhead for night shots.

As it turned out, I didn't use the TS-E lens. I did shoot with everything else.

Lighting The Set

The most complex setups were at St Agnes Church and the cemetery. (The wildlife shots were simple by comparison.) At the cemetery, I used 5 LED lights - 4 panels and a foot long Lume Cube light bar - and 2 Flashpoint / Godox 32iA mini flashes in niches, remotely fired by an R2 Nano trigger in the SL3 camera's hot shoe.

At St. Agnes, I used four or five LED lights inside and out. I didn't need the flashes there.

For the shots with RVs, I used one light inside with one or two accent lights outside.

Make It Look Lived In - Or Spooky

When I light, I choose contrasting colors. I like red interiors and blue outside, but I also try to change it up. It's like lighting house interiors with small flashes - you pick out details to highlight and light those. I also like a starry background for exterior shots, but the weather gods said no to that on this trip. It was all about lit clouds instead. Then I hope for partly cloudy conditions with interesting textures, but those didn't always happen either. It was completely socked in at the cemetery, so I kept the sky dark and just lit crosses. That added to the spooky feeling of a graveyard at night. As I walked around, I apologized for disturbing anybody...

More Information

Big Bend Chamber of Commerce (8 February 2022), Terlingua Map 2021-2022. Retrieved from https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5c3e205fec4eb7fbebaacecb/t/62ba324cddc73e0493a12284/1656369751798/map+2022.pdf

Greater Big Bend International Dark Sky Reserve (nd), Get a closer look. Retrieved from https://www.bigbenddarkskyreserve.org/stargazing

International Crane Foundation (nd), Saving a Species. Retrieved from https://savingcranes.org/saving-a-species/

Nomadic Niko (nd), Terlingua. Retrieved from https://nomadicniko.com/texas/terlingua/

Marathon Motel & RV Park (nd), Marathon Sky Park. Retrieved from https://www.marathonmotel.com/skypark

PJ Flanders Fine Art (nd), Seminole Canyon State Park Area Attractions. Retrieved from http://www.peggyflanders.com/PaintingAcrossTexas/SeminoleCanyon/MakerOfPeace.htm

Texas State Historical Association (nd), The History of Chisos Mining Company: A Quicksilver Pioneer. Retrieved from https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/chisos-mining-company

Texas Highways (nd), A Look At Terlingua’s Chili Origins. Retrieved from https://texashighways.com/culture/history/a-look-at-terlinguas-chili-origins/

Texas Highways (May 3, 2021), The Vibrant Legacy of Artist Bill Worrell, Who Drew Inspiration From Ancient Texas Rock Art. Retrieved from https://texashighways.com/travel-news/the-vibrant-legacy-of-artist-bill-worrell-who-drew-inspiration-from-ancient-texas-rock-art/

This Vantastic Life (March 13, 2025), Episode 92: How, When, and Where To See a Whooping Crane. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XZCRi5QmwE&t=3s

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (nd), Aransas National Wildlife Refuge. Retrieved from https://www.fws.gov/refuge/aransas

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (June 30, 2025), Record Number of Whooping Cranes Estimated Wintering on Texas Coast in 2024-2025. Retrieved from https://www.fws.gov/press-release/2025-06/2025-wintering-whooping-crane-count