Update on Neches River NWR

On Saturday, I drove out the the Neches River NWR as planned. Unfortunately, the gate was locked! What? It's supposed to be open! I emailed the refuge manager, who said that a contractor hasn't installed the automatic gate yet, and it should be up within a month. Meanwhile, an employee has been manually unlocking the gate during business hours, 8-5 Mon-Fri. I'm going to try to get all my lab work done early this week so I can head out there Friday.

The nest day was originally planned for the refuge, too, so I went to Martin Creek Lake State Park instead. I spent the first part of the day trying to get fish species. I especially wanted to get catfish; the park lists three species. I didn't get a catfish, but a largemouth bass and a bluegill. As I fished, a great blue heron stood nearby. My fishing buddy, I called him. I think it caught more fish than me. ;p Around lunchtime I heard an eagle squeaking and looked up. Two of them were fighting over a fish in midair. I managed to snap a blurry photo before they disappeared behind the tree line.

As the day wore on, the fish stopped biting so I walked the island trail to look for any winter migrants. I found one, the yellow-bellied sapsucker.

Posted on November 5, 2018 02:40 AM by