By Brandt Mannchen
On Saturday, November 15, 2025, the Houston Sierra Club (HSC) visited Brazoria National Wildlife Refuge (BNWR) for birding, stress relief, nature study, and scenic appreciation. Twelve brave people enjoyed seeing the coastal prairie and marsh landscape of your 44,000 acres of public land that are found in BNWR.
Unfortunately, because of the just ended U.S. government shutdown, bathrooms that are normally open were locked. We later found relief at a single, lonely, porta-potty on the Big Slough Auto Tour through BNWR. Whew!
We could see the effects of the drought that now affects much of the State of Texas. Important ponds and marshes that are usually full of water were dry including Gator Nest Pond and most of Olney and Cross Trails Ponds. Big Slough did have water and is where we found a very large American Alligator, which periodically raised its head out of the water and slammed it down on the surface. We also saw another alligator adjacent to Gator Nest Pond as we drove to Salt Lake.
At Salt Lake the parking lot had people who were fishing or crabbing and enjoying the mild fall day. We saw a Whimbrel, following the edge of the water, looking for succulent invertebrates to breakfast on.
In Big Slough, there were many blooming White waterlilies, Water Plantains, and Water Primroses. So far into the year, aquatic plants should have finished their flowering, but with climate change, the blooming season had been extended. Big Slough had flocks of Black-bellied Whistling Ducks and many other ducks which floated, dabbled, and socialized.
Turkey Vultures soared overhead, and North Harriers were seen hunting at low altitudes for small mammals and reptiles. Toward the end of our auto tour, we saw a gorgeous White-tailed Kite sitting on a snag (dead tree) looking fabulous!
Our bird list included: Turkey Vulture, Black Vulture, Killdeer, Mocking Bird, Northern Harrier, Savannah Sparrow, White Ibis, Laughing Gull, Black-bellied Whistling Duck, Eastern Phoebe, Moorhen, Boat-tailed Grackle, American Coot, Brown-headed Cowbird, Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, cormorant species, Meadow Lark, Loggerhead Shrike, Whimbrel, Royal Tern, Greater Yellow Legs, Long-billed Dowitcher, peep species, American Bittern, Kestrel, White Pelican, Northern Shoveler, Green-winged Teal, and Blue-winged Teal.
We had lunch at the pavilion on the boardwalk over Big Slough. It was a great, sunny, partly cloudy, day with lots of dreams and fantasies to be found in the blue sky. Getting away from Houston was truly game changer for me and when I got home, I felt a good type of tired because I was rested and satisfied. That’s what I like about Nature and getting outdoors. You never seem to get enough.