NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE/TEXAS

(From Anahuac web page)

The chorus of thousands of waterfowl, wind moving through coastal prairie, the splash of an alligator going for a swim, a high-pitched call of a fulvous whistling duck. These are just some of the sounds you may hear when visiting the Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge.

The meandering bayous of Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge cut through ancient flood plains, creating vast expanses of coastal marsh and prairie bordering Galveston Bay in southeast Texas. The marshes and prairies are host or home to an abundance of wildlife, from migratory birds, to alligators, to bobcats, and more.  

Established in 1963, the 37,000-acre refuge is part of the National Wildlife Refuge System, a national network of lands and waters set aside for the benefit of wildlife and you.  The management focus of the refuge (and its companion refuges, McFadden and Texas Point) is to protect and manage the coastal marsh for migrating, wintering and breeding waterfowl, shorebirds and water birds, and provide strategic and crucial nesting areas for the neotropical migratory songbirds migrating across the Gulf of Mexico.

Whenever the Tortuga is headed east for adventure, the first stop on Bolivar will be Anahuac.  This is one of those places you can spend the day with binoculars and not see it all, or you can still get blown away as a drive by event, There is a single lane road, with pull outs, that goes around a small portion of the refuge. The Tortuga saw Alligators, Turtles and thousands of birds on this single loop.  NO the Tortuga did not make any new Alligator friends, they were to busy warming themselves in the winter sun. We should all be thankful that these kinds of places are preserved, the Tortuga is.

Today’s Objective was to gets sand between the Tortuga Toes. To Sea Rim State Park

But before the Tortuga heads out you might want to check out “Anahuac, A Texas Story” by William D. Darling.