On January 11, 2025, 7 people enjoyed the Houston Sierra Club (HSC) outing to San Bernard National Wildlife Refuge (SBNWR) to bird and experience our public lands and wildlife first hand.
After a week of overcast and cold weather, the participants had a wonderful day of bright, cloudless, sunny skies with a periodic cool breeze. The temperature was in the mid to high 50’s and the birds were out for their walks, swims, and flights.
Scores of Great Egrets and White-faced Ibis and hundreds of Great-tailed and Boat-tailed Grackles showed that they were pleased with our federal NWR which provides their Winter homes.
White-tailed Deer were also out in force. Two met us, and crossed the road in front of us, on recently burned grasslands, as we drove into SBNWR; at least four bucks skittered away as we walked along Wolfweed Wetlands; and a single deer waved good-bye to us with its white tail as we left after visiting SBNWR.
It was exciting to see all the different habitats that birds inhabit at SBNWR such as tallgrass prairies, Columbia Bottomlands, riparian woodlands, freshwater wetlands, and native tree and shrub mottes.
As we walked the Bobcat Woods Trail and Wolfweed Wetlands, and drove the Moccasin Pond Auto Tour, we saw at least 49 different kinds of birds including:
Snow Goose, Blue-winged Teal, Northern Shoveler, Pied-billed Grebe, Neotropic Cormorant, Double-crested Cormorant, American White Pelican, Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Tricolored Heron, Green Heron, White Ibis, White-faced Ibis, Black Vulture, Turkey Vulture, Bald Eagle, Red-tailed Hawk, Common Gallinule, American Coot, Sandhill Crane, Killdeer, Greater Yellowlegs, Ring-billed Gull, Pileated Woodpecker, Crested Caracara, American Kestrel, Eastern Phoebe, Loggerhead Shrike, Blue-headed Vireo, American Crow, Carolina Chickadee, Carolina Wren, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Eastern Bluebird, Gray Catbird, Northern Mockingbird, Orange-crowned Warbler, Common Yellow Throat, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Wilson’s Warbler, Savannah Sparrow, Swamp Sparrow, Northern Cardinal, Red-winged Blackbird, Eastern Meadowlark, Boat-tailed Grackle, Great-tailed Grackle, and American Goldfinch.
For me, the highpoints of the day included a circling Bald Eagle, bright yellow Wilson’s Warblers along a slough, stream-lined Loggerhead Shrike in trees, calling Sandhill Cranes in the blue sky, American White Pelican landing at Moccasin Pond, and a Pileated Woodpecker on a powerline pole as we left SBNWR.
It was a great day, and the people made it enjoyable as we shared laughter and a sense of awe and searched for birds and wildlife in SBNWR. How can things get any better?
Photo courtesy of Brandt Mannchen