By Brandt Mannchen
I am retired and you would think that I have plenty of “free time”. However, looks are deceiving. Between all the volunteer work I do for the Houston Group and Lone Star Chapter Sierra Club, life with my lovely fiancée, work around the house, and the curves that life throws at me, I had been unable to get outdoors like I did last year.
Usually, during the winter months, I visit Brazoria and San Bernard National Wildlife Refuges (NWR) to see ducks, hawks, herons, and other birds, not to mention American Alligators. But this winter I had been hung-up getting other things accomplished. I was feeling frustrated and needed to get away.
I made my decision, called my buddy David, and left at 6:20 am to the rendezvous. It would be another edition of the “Dave and Brandt Show” as I laughingly call our outdoor adventures. We met at a Starbucks in Meyerland Plaza and off we went. Well, sort of. We were in Houston morning traffic and it took us some time to get to 288 South.
After a half-hour drive, we took the Angleton exit in Brazoria County, and headed north, east, and then south on FM 523. Then we turned onto FM 2004, near the landfill and before you know it we were entering Brazoria NWR.
It was very foggy, perhaps foggier then I had ever seen on the Refuge. We turned right and drove toward the Salt Lake Fishing Area where there is a parking lot and a boat launch. As we drove down the potholed, gravel, road the fog closed in on us. At Alligator Pond, we stopped and stared at the pond’s namesake, floating on the water eyeing us suspiciously. Moorhens and grackles swam or flew at the pond. The dew from fog left a delicate trail of water drops that outlined hundreds of spiderwebs that festooned the grasses and shrubs of the coastal prairie. It truly looked like we had entered a fairyland.
A bit further down the road I stopped, and with my binoculars attempted to identify a dark shape that seemed to appear out of the fog. David looked too and we both got excited. I said, “It looks like an otter!” David agreed it might be. We kept looking and looking and then something strange occurred. The dark shape split in half and duplicated itself. It was then I realized that this was no otter. It was a pair of Crested Caracaras, the famous Mexican Eagle. I had been totally fooled in the morning mist.
On we drove, as Savannah Sparrows flitted away from our car and on the side of the road we spied a Great Egret. We finally made it to the Salt Lake parking lot. There, dozens of birds sat resting. David and I saw Brown Pelicans, Laughing Gulls, Royal Terns, Great Egrets, Double-crested Cormorants, and unidentified gulls, perhaps Herring Gulls.
We turned around, back-tracked, and began the Big Slough Auto Tour. But first we stopped at the Discovery Center and looked at the pond. Red-winged Blackbirds, American Coots, and grackles, either Boat -Tailed or Great-tailed, were what we found. Plus, two American Alligators. One was about 2 feet long. We had missed that alligator as we began our stroll across the pond’s board-walk. But on the way back we saw just how blind we had been. David took a photo.
Back to our Big Slough Auto Tour! I saw that Spring was in the air. Starting in the parking lot, blooming Spiderwort, Red Sage, Southern Dewberry, Crow Poison, Sow Thistle, Scarlet Pimpernel, Butterweed, yellow clover, white clover, Indian Paintbrush, buttercup, verbena, and other wildflowers decorated the prairie and marshes. Out of the fog came a bird on an erratic, low-flying, path. It was a Northern Harrier, hunting low for prey.
The rest of our time we drove, stopped, and looked in the ditches, ponds, and flooded marshes and prairie. Snowy Egrets, Glossy or White-faced Ibis, White Ibis, Blue Winged Teal Duck, Pied-billed Grebe, Gadwall Duck, Loggerhead Shrike, Meadow Lark, Belted Kingfisher, Northern Shoveler Duck, Mockingbird, Eastern Phoebe, and of course, our blood sisters, mosquitoes. Always!
We drove back to the Discovery Center and had a poor-boy lunch. I talked to the volunteer couple at the Discovery Center, grabbed a few maps and bird lists, and Dave and I were off to San Bernard NWR.
It took us about 45 minutes to get to San Bernard. We saw similar birds, Moorhens, Savannah Sparrows, American Coots, Pied-billed Grebes, Great Egrets, White Ibis, Meadow Larks, Red-winged Blackbirds, etc. But we also saw new blooming wildflowers and birds including Wild Onions, Texas Dandelions, Spider Lilies, Ring-necked Ducks, Lesser Scaup Ducks, Northern Cardinals, Kestrals, and, always a thrill, an Osprey. And a few more American Alligators!
Too soon we had to go. Finally, I had gotten my outdoor and NWR fix. It was sweet. David, when can we go again!!!
Brandt Mannchen
February 28, 2019