Migrating birds get new rest stop

By Desirée Evans
The Facts

Published March 7, 2007

CHURCHILL — Brazoria County bird watchers and nature fans can volunteer this month to create a new place to ogle various species of North American birds that will migrate back to the North this spring.

“You can actually see them on a radar screen, because there are so many of them,” said Jennifer Sanchez, Texas Midcoast Refuges Complex project leader, about the birds’ migration toward the Texas Gulf Coast.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is working to prepare a donated 10-acre tract along the San Bernard River so it can be accessed by the public to learn about the forest and the river and for their bird-viewing pleasure, Sanchez said.

The service plans to develop a birding trail through the land, which also will be a historical interpretive trail about the San Bernard River.

“This is the first portion of land we’ve acquired along the San Bernard River,” said Tom Schneider, the complex’s outdoor recreational planner.

The tract, which is north of FM 2611 and up the river off CR 819-B, will be called the Betty Brown Unit, a historical name for the area, Sanchez said.

At one time there was a pond on the property named Betty Brown pond. It now is the wetland slough that spans the unit, Sanchez said.

The couple who donated the 10 acres to the service, Lolita and Bob Muhm, are members of Friends of the Brazoria Refuges. They didn’t know who Brown was and everyone they asked also was unaware, but decided to keep the name.

The Brown unit is an ideal spot for birds migrating from South and Central America to stop and recharge after the long trip across the Gulf of Mexico, before continuing further north, Sanchez said.

“The area will be open to the public, where people might get to see some songbirds that they may not get to see otherwise,” Schneider said.

The Fish and Wildlife Service began acquiring new land in 1997 under the Austin Woods Conservation Program, Sanchez said, and the new unit would be a wonderful addition. It is in what is called bottomland forests and is a part of the Columbia Bottomlands, which contain a lot of mid-story layer vegetation the birds feed on.

The mid-story or mid-canopy layer of vegetation consists of small trees, such as hackberry and yaupon trees, which bear fruit or berries for the birds to eat, Schneider said. This layer also is important because it is home to the majority of the forest’s insects, which the birds also like to eat.

Roughly 237 species of birds, or 229 million individual birds, migrate through the Columbia Bottomlands every year, according to an Austin Woods information packet distributed by the San Bernard National Wildlife Refuge.

Lolita Muhm, who considers herself and her husband wildlife conservationists but not necessarily avid bird watchers, said they expect a large variety of birds — and especially a variety of species of warblers — to visit the unit while migrating.

They chose to dedicate the land because the bottomland woods, which are important for the birds’ survival during the spring migration, are disappearing rapidly, she said.

“Maybe it will a help a little bit, somehow,” Lolita Muhm said.

The unit’s location alongside the river makes it ideal for the birds because they actually can key in on the mouths of rivers after nearing the coast and follow the rivers upstream, almost like a map, Sanchez said.

The last time she visited the unit, the bird presence already was tremendous.

“I think it will be a really neat unit to show off to the public,” Sanchez said.

The unit’s location also is important because, “It’s one of the closest to the Gulf of Mexico,” Sanchez said, so it will be one of the birds’ first rest stops.

The unit will need a temporary trail cleared for it to be opened for public use April 13, during the San Bernard National Wildlife Refuge’s 13th annual Migration Celebration, Sanchez said.

“So people won’t have to be ducking under branches,” Sanchez said.

There are plans to build a boardwalk through the unit and over a slough that runs through it. Interpretive panels with information on the birds, forest and history of the river also will be added, Sanchez said. The project, when finished, should cost about $10,000, Sanchez said.

The service is working in conjunction with local groups — Friends of the River San Bernard, Brazosport Birders and Friends of Brazoria Refuges — to get the project moving, with the Brazosport Birders figuring out what is the best path for the trail to take through the unit, Schneider said.

They are hoping a partnership to maintain the trail can be formed with Friends of the River, Schneider said.

Schneider said they are trying to rally volunteers for the morning of March 24 to help clear the trail . They could use a couple of dozen people to do the work.

“There’s a lot of brush to clear,” Schneider said.

Officials are asking anyone who would like to help to bring pruning tools, saws and chainsaws if people are trained to use them, Schneider said. Volunteers also should wear gloves, hats, sunblock and mosquito spray, he said.

The group plans to work from 8 a.m. until noon and will meet at the Exxon station on the southwest side of the Sportsman’s Span bridge and boat ramp on FM 2611. For information about the project, call Schneider at (979) 849-7771.

Desirée Evans covers communities West of the Brazos for The Facts. Contact her at (979) 237-0152.

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TO HELP

Volunteers: People who want to help clear brush at the Betty Brown Unit should meet at 8 a.m. March 24 at the Churchill Grocery store/Exxon station by the San Bernard River bridge on FM 2611

What to bring: Volunteers should expect to work until noon and should bring any pruning tools and saws they own, plus gloves, hats, sun block and mosquito spray.