Endangered birds

Whoop for Whoopers: A great Texas comeback story

Texas is one of the few places in the United States where you can see the endangered whooping crane. These 5-foot tall birds — North America’s tallest — fly all the way from Canada to winter on our coast.

Now some whoopers are choosing to stay in other parts of Texas and the Texas Parks and Wildlife wants your help in tracking this rare bird.

Birders from around the world flock to the Texas coast each winter to catch a glimpse of the endangered whooping crane. The birds migrate here from Canada, a flight that almost ended 50 years ago.

“When we first started keeping track of whooping cranes there were only 16 to 20 left in the wild," explains Lee Ann Linam with Texas Parks and Wildlife. "As conservation and protection efforts began in the 1940s and the 1950s, we just saw this very slow but steady recovery. Now we’re hoping to hit 300.”

As their numbers increase, it appears whooper behavior may be changing as well.

“Last year was an unusual winter," says Linam. "Some our whooping cranes made it to their traditional wintering grounds and other whooping cranes chose to stop over in different locations in the state. We actually had three families spend the winter in the Austin area.”

Biologists want to understand this change in behavior and are asking for the public’s help in gathering data.

“We started a new Citizen Science Project we’re calling Texas Whooper Watch. And we’re encouraging Texans to be on the lookout for whooping cranes in migration.”

The site has a simple reporting form, along with pictures to help you ensure what you’re seeing is really a whooping crane.

Whoopers are about five feet tall with black wingtips. They fly in small flocks of two to six and have a distinctive bugling call. If you are lucky enough to spot this rare bird, keep your distance.

“The disturbance that close observation can cause means that the whooping crane has less time to feed and be successful in producing a chick for the coming year," explains Linam.

Texas is one of the few places you can see whoopers. They arrive in late October and start the long flight back to Canada in the spring.

"They are very majestic looking and also kind of bearing a lot of mystique just because of those pair bonds that they form for life and the courtship displays and the really haunting bugling calls. So they capture the public’s fascination and they really provide us with an inspiring kind of comeback story.”

To learn more about the Whooper Watch program, visit the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

---

The Texas Parks & Wildlife Department produces these multi-media reports as an educational resource.

High Score

Austin named the nation's pickleball capital in industry report

Other Racquet Social Club

Photo by Henry Selis Photo

Other Racquet Social Club is back after city woes.

It's no secret that Austinites love pickleball. A new study proves just how much by ranking Austin the No. 1 city for pickleball in the whole country. Dallas and Houston also made the top 10 at Nos. 3 and 8, respectively.

The report was published by TeachMe.To, an online marketplace for learning sports (and sometimes music) from private instructors. It used data from its own platform, USA Pickleball, Places2Play, local pickleball associations, and more. It also referred to the Sports and Fitness Industry Association (SFIA), which named pickleball the fastest-growing sport in America, with a growth rate of 223.5 percent over three years.

Similarly, TeachMe.To ranked Austin as the fastest-growing city for pickleball, and citing this as the main reason for the overall title of "the nation's pickleball capital."

It name-checked the Austin Metro Pickleball Association (AMPA) — with approximately 3,000-3,500 members — and the Austin Pickleball League (APL), estimating that overall, "15,000-20,000 people play pickleball at least occasionally in the greater Austin area." About half of those players — about 8,000-10,000 people — play at least twice a month.

The report did not include gender data on Austin, specifically, but it did note that not only are two-thirds of pickleball players female; women's involvement in the sport is also growing 50 percent faster than men's.

New courts everywhere
This probably isn't a surprise to people who have noticed the number of courts opened around Austin in recent years. By 2024, TeachMe.To's data shows 32 dedicated courts in Austin, and thanks to with a utility rate of 92 percent it doesn't look like that'll be slowing down.

In the summer of 2023, the online booking platform Swimply noticed how many pickleball courts there were in Austin compared to such great demand, and added courts to its service. In fall 2023 and summer 2024, at least two important developments expanded that availability: Other Racquet Social Club opened as a friendly, country club-like neighborhood option, and national chain The Picklr announced it's bringing five locations to Austin and Round Rock.

Perhaps because Austin is such a food-obsessed city, there seems to be some growing opportunity for food and beverage hospitality around pickleball, too. Other Racquet recently started hosting the Bill's Dips food truck, a spinoff of the popular downtown restaurant Bill's Oyster; and a pair of bars with pickleball courts, Drifters Social Coffee & Cocktails and The Pickle Pub, also opened in South Austin this year, with strong online ratings already.

The trend has even reached into real estate (see this cute house with its own pickleball court) and inspired athletes to introduce similar sports to the local market, as in the case of the padel club Paddle39. TeachMe.To's report also mentioned tech companies adding pickleball to their campuses.

Aside from growth, the study also considered lesson activity (including information about teacher availability and diversity of clinic offerings), infrastructure, community vitality, the tournament scene.

Austin had the highest concentration of all the cities of players under 40 (65 percent), as well as the highest share of national lesson bookings. At 16.90 percent, that means about one in six of the pickleball lessons contracted through this platform were in Austin. Lesson demand, the report says, is growing 125 percent year-over-year.

Elsewhere in Texas
Dallas was No. 3 thanks in part to its "central location" according to the report.

"The city's 45 dedicated courts and 85 [percent] public accessibility rate have fostered one of the most active competitive scenes in the country, with 8,500 registered league players," it says. "The combination of strong tournament presence, extensive infrastructure, and a 112% growth in lesson bookings solidifies Dallas as a powerhouse in the national pickleball landscape."

Houston made No. 8 with an emphasis on integrating pickleball with other sports.

"The city's 22 dedicated courts have seen a 92% increase in lesson bookings, driven by innovative programming that includes the nation's first corporate league system," it says. "Houston's success in integrating pickleball into existing sports infrastructure while maintaining 72% year-round utilization demonstrates a sustainable model for rapid growth."

Overall predictions
After laying out data about the top cities in pickleball, the report made some predictions. As the Austin newcomer mentioned above believes, the report also thinks padel is the next big thing. It also guesses more cities will act like Houston by focusing on hybrid facilities.

It also expects to see an expanded professional circuit and mainstream coverage, more technology used on the court, a rise in the prevalence of young players, and more opportunities in corporate wellness and real estate. "Dedicated pickleball facilities will become as common as swimming pools in luxury developments," it says. Texans will be the judge of that one.

pickleball lists

Loading...