Turtle Bayou Nature Preserve
Chamber's County has a new site that has some great birding potential. The Galveston Bay Foundation just opened the Turtle Bayou Nature Preserve. I visited it yesterday for the first time and I wasn't there at a good time and still managed 24 species. The habitat is mixed and I suspect it will yield a good list with some birding.
The north side of the preserve is pine forest with heavy undergrowth, mostly dense Trifoliate Orange. On the west side is a few water marsh. So the south is Lake Anahuac and Turtle Bayou with Cypress forest alongside.
The Turtle Bayou Nature Preserve West Tract is 514 acres. Not all of the trails are done yet, I got down a half mile dead end before I figured that out! There is some access to Turtle Bayou and at least eventually Lake Anahuac.
The parking lot is about 1 mile south of I10 on FM563 and is well marked. It's right before you cross Turtle Bayou. There is an East Tract also across the FM563 but I didn't have time to explore that
Turtle Bayou Nature Preserve - West Tract, Chambers, Texas, US Oct 17, 2016 1:14 PM - 2:14 PM Protocol: Traveling 2.0 mile(s) 24 species
Great Blue Heron 2 Great Egret 1 Cattle Egret 12 White Ibis 14 White-faced Ibis 7 Turkey Vulture 2 Killdeer 1 Least Sandpiper 2 Long-billed Dowitcher 7 Greater Yellowlegs 2 Red-bellied Woodpecker 1 Eastern Phoebe 5 White-eyed Vireo 1 Blue Jay 2 American Crow 2 Northern Rough-winged Swallow 10 House Wren 2 Sedge Wren 1 Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 3 Gray Catbird 1 Northern Mockingbird 1 Common Yellowthroat 2 Northern Cardinal 8 Indigo Bunting 6
View this checklist online at http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S32086740
