By Brandt Mannchen
Sometimes I want to get out of Houston, escape, and go back where we all come from and belong, Nature. I called my “buddy”, David, and asked if he’d like to come along. I thought we’d go to Hudson Woods, a part of the San Bernard National Wildlife Refuge, and then we’d have lunch in Brazoria National Wildlife Refuge (BNWR) and scope out whatever Nature had in store for us.
When I got up early on Saturday, I looked at the weather and wondered if we would make it. It was 6 am and the thunder, lightning, and pounding rain sent me a signal that this might not work. But about 7 am, things calmed down and I took off to meet Dave at a local Starbucks.
I grabbed a “hot chocolate”, Dave arrived, and off we went on our wildlife adventure. We drove south on SH 288 past Angleton. When we got to SH 35, we drove west and then turned onto FM 521 in Brazoria County. Unfortunately, our original destination was closed with a gate across the entrance to Hudson Woods.
I wondered if this wasn’t due to President Trump’s unprecedented attack on our public lands, including National Wildlife Refuges, where budget, office, and personnel had been slashed. Since I was going to spend the day enjoying federal public lands that we all owned and paid taxes for, I pushed this thought to the back of my mind, and we redirected my SUV to BNWR.
Immediately, after I turned onto the entrance road that leads to BNWR we noticed how the ditches were flooded with the recent rain (blooming with water plantains, Sagitarria) and saw a white SUV stopped on the road.
We pulled up behind this vehicle and noticed that two men, with cameras that had lenses that looked like small cannons, were circling or perhaps dancing around something on the road. We walked toward them and I saw that they were taking photos of a large Cottonmouth (Water Moccasin), a venomous snake.
These snakes usually don’t grow long but their girth is impressive. This was the case for this rascal which was about 30-36 inches long but probably about 8 inches around. Its head pointed up, the body was spread out, and occasionally it showed a “white cotton” mouth with fangs to let us know to “leave me alone”.
I wanted to make sure this snake wasn’t run over so I went back to my SUV and got out my snake stick. I gently and carefully pulled it to the side of the road. However, my attempt to save this snake was rebuffed and it crawled across the road to the opposite side and then swam away in the ditch. After this event, I knew that as far as I was concerned this was going to be a great day.
Dave and I noticed that many wildflowers and grasses were blooming as we toured through the Refuge. Throughout the day we saw Water Primrose, White Water Lilly, Camphor Weed, Smartweed, Loosestrife, Plains Coreopsis, Mexican Primrose, Bull Rush, Wild Petunia, Coral Bean, Horse Nettle, Dayflower, Sensitive Briar, Fire-wheel, Texas Dandelion, Common Sunflower, Mexican Hat, Texas Thistle, Knot-root Bristle Grass, Brazoria Penstemon, Indian Paintbrush, Texas Verbena, Brazilian Vervain, Cherokee Rose, Whirled Milkweed, Japanese Honey-suckle, and Salt-Marsh Mallow blooming in BWNR.
American Alligators made appearances throughout the Refuge. It was special to see baby alligators next to the boardwalk at the Discovery Center. They sunned themselves and then tried to hide from us in the aquatic vegetation as we approached.
We took the auto tour in BWNR and enjoyed seeing Tri-colored Heron, Killdeer, Mourning Dove, Mockingbird, Boat-tailed Grackle, Red-winged Blackbird, Black-bellied Whistling Duck (with babies), Common Gallinule (with babies), Purple Gallinule, Pied-billed Grebe, Laughing Gull, Brown-headed Cowbird, Common Night Hawk, Willet, Little Bue Heron, Black-necked Stilt, Crested Caracara, Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Cattle Egret, Reddish Egret, Greater Yellowlegs, Neotropic Cormorant, White Ibis, Roseate Spoonbill, Meadow Lark, Least Tern, Great Blue Heron, Turkey Vulture, Black Vulture, Barn Swallow, Cave Swallow, Anhinga, Green Heron, and White-faced Ibis flying, wading, swimming, and feeding.
It was exciting to see a Red-eared Slider cross the road in front of us. A lanky Raccoon scampered to a blue dumpster, crawled up, and tipped itself in, under the dumpster top. Yellow and white sulfur butterflies flitted across grasslands and landed on wildflowers to partake of their sweet nectar. Dragonflies, like sentinels, flew looking for dinner. Bullfrogs called for their mates.
The sky had been threatening to give way and pour on us all day. Black clouds, boiling, with thunder and lightning, weren’t far away. We decided it was time to “hasten down the wind” and leave BNWR in a hurry.
Unfortunately, via a wrong turn and a slow departure we ran right into a raging rain that filled SH 35, 6, and 288 with water as we made our way back. For a while I was afraid the SUV might drown out in the floodwater that collected on roads. But we were fortunate that soon the rainstorm passed us by.
It had been a great, if a bit scary, day at BNWR. I’m glad I got away to view Nature in her beauty and power. I want to return soon. How about you?