By Brandt Mannchen

I had been away from the Texas Coast for far too long.  It was December, and I needed a break.  I called my buddy, Brother Dave, and we agreed to rendezvous at 9 am at Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge.  The weather was overcast, with patches of sunlight, and a steady bay breeze of 15-20 miles per hour.

I arrived early, just after 8 am, and began the several mile long drive to the main entrance gate.  As I began my drive the ground fog was lifting and the air felt a bit cool, in the 50’s.  First, I saw a Black Vulture on a powerline pole.  At the next pole I saw a Crested Caracara, then I came upon a Kestrel, and then a large Red-tailed Hawk.  Things looked very good for this trip with birds active everywhere.

Before I entered the main entrance, I had already seen 14 different kinds of birds.  Since I’m not a “good birder”, I knew that four or five more kinds of birds had eluded my meager identification skills.  A large, shallow lake, to the right of me revealed Roseate Spoonbills, Black-necked Stilts, White Ibis, and a host of other wading birds.

I parked my car near the entrance gate and waited for Dave.  As I waited, Snow Geese flew overhead going to breakfast, somewhere to the east.  He arrived shortly, and we took a walk through the butterfly garden, with the remnants of blooming Fire-wheels, Blue Mistflowers, Common Morning Glories, Scarlet Sage, and Skullcaps showing their colored glory in small doses.

We then walked to a small pond.  Before we knew it, we had seen more than a half-dozen Bullfrogs.  Their heads were barely out of the water.  Some called “reep” as they leaped from the side of the pond into the water because we had disturbed them.

Unidentified sparrows, those darn “little brown birds”, flitted through low vegetation.  Blue-gray Gnatcatchers pulled Giant Ragweed seeds from dead plants right in front of us.  These were wonderful signs that Nature continued despite the eruption of human arrogance and craziness that my daily life revealed.

After walking back from the butterfly garden and frog pond, we loaded up our gear and I backed out of the parking lot to begin our auto tour.  Or I began to back out.  To the left of our parking space is a building where you can buy t-shirts books, apps, etc. about birds and Nature.  There also are several signs at the end of the parking lot before you get to the building.

On one of the signs was a beautiful, fabulous, red and black bird that I knew instantly.  Several years before I had seen this bird in the butterfly garden.  The Vermillion Flycatcher looked straight at me, as if to welcome me to Anahuac for the day, and to say, “You haven’t seen me for a while”.

I pointed out the Vermillion Flycatcher to Dave and we both ooded and aahed.  I felt like an old friend had surprised me with his/her presence.  I recovered my cool and we began our auto tour.  As we drove to the freshwater marsh, we saw a Great Blue Heron and Red-winged Blackbird, familiar denizens of this watery landscape.

We circled Shoveler Pond and nearby areas and saw countless birds including:

Great and Snowy Egrets, White and Glossy Ibis, American Coot, Northern Harrier, Blue-winged Teal, Pied-billed Grebe, Osprey, Moorhen, Roseate Spoonbill, Black-necked Stilt, Black-bellied and Fulvus Whistling Ducks, Long and Short-billed Dowitchers, Tri-colored Heron, Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs, Wood Duck, Green-winged Teal, Boat-tailed Grackle, Green Heron, White-fronted Goose, Ross’ Goose, Little Blue Heron, Neotropical and Double Crested Cormorants, Savannah Sparrow, Swamp Sparrow; the birds seemed endless as we continued our tour.

To add to our marsh delights, dozens of American Alligators either sunned themselves on vegetated islands or propelled themselves along in the water like submarines in search of prey.  Down near East Bay, in a distant tree, we saw two White-tailed Kites as we drove along West Line Road, with a few bright blooming goldenrods and Fire-wheels lining the right-of-way.

We finished the trip by driving into the town of Anahuac and having a Tex-Mex lunch.  What a great day and what a great way to loosen the bonds of civilization and slip into the comfortable and varied topography of Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge.  Always a pleasure and delight for these sore eyes and quiet longing ears.