The Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) is a wildlife conservation area along the coast of Texas (USA), west of the town of

High Island, Texas High Island is an unincorporated community located in the Bolivar Peninsula census-designated place, Galveston County, Texas, United States. The community is located in the extreme eastern part of the county on Bolivar Peninsula, less than one ...

. It borders East Bay, part of the

Galveston Bay Galveston Bay ( ) is a bay in the western Gulf of Mexico along the upper coast of Texas. It is the seventh-largest estuary in the United States, and the largest of seven major estuaries along the Texas Gulf Coast. It is connected to the Gulf of ...

complex, behind Bolivar Peninsula at the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United S ...

. Established in 1963, this wildlife refuge is located on the upper Texas Coast in Chambers County. The refuge protects approximately of coastal

marsh A marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous rather than woody plant species.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p Marshes can often be found a ...

and

prairies Prairies are ecosystems considered part of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome by ecologists, based on similar temperate climates, moderate rainfall, and a composition of grasses, herbs, and shrubs, rather than trees, as th ...

. The refuge offers opportunities for fishing,

waterfowl hunting Waterfowl hunting (also called wildfowling or waterfowl shooting in the UK) is the practice of hunting ducks, geese, or other waterfowl for food and sport. Many types of ducks and geese share the same habitat, have overlapping or identical h ...

, paddling, and wildlife viewing. A large network of volunteers contributes thousands of hours in support of the refuge. In the winter, the Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge hosts large concentrations of

waterfowl Anseriformes is an order of birds also known as waterfowl that comprises about 180 living species of birds in three families: Anhimidae (three species of screamers), Anseranatidae (the magpie goose), and Anatidae, the largest family, which i ...

making it a popular site for public hunting. Other signature species are

American alligator The American alligator (''Alligator mississippiensis''), sometimes referred to colloquially as a gator or common alligator, is a large crocodilian reptile native to the Southeastern United States. It is one of the two extant species in the ...

bobcat The bobcat (''Lynx rufus''), also known as the red lynx, is a medium-sized cat native to North America. It ranges from southern Canada through most of the contiguous United States to Oaxaca in Mexico. It is listed as Least Concern on the IU ...

yellow rail The yellow rail (''Coturnicops noveboracensis'') is a small secretive marsh bird, of the family Rallidae that is found in North America. Taxonomy The yellow rail was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin i ...

, and purple gallinule.

Birdwatchers Birdwatching, or birding, is the observing of birds, either as a recreational activity or as a form of citizen science. A birdwatcher may observe by using their naked eye, by using a visual enhancement device like binoculars or a telescope, by ...

find the refuge an excellent place to observe

neotropical The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropical terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperate zone. Definition In bi ...

migrants in the spring and fall. Other species sought by birdwatchers include

American bittern The American bittern (''Botaurus lentiginosus'') is a species of wading bird in the heron family. It has a Nearctic distribution, breeding in Canada and the northern and central parts of the United States, and wintering in the U.S. Gulf Coast ...

seaside sparrow The seaside sparrow (''Ammospiza maritima'') is an American sparrow. Description Adults have brownish upperparts with gray on the crown and nape, and a grayish-buff-colored breast with dark streaks; they have a dark face with gray cheeks, a whit ...

fulvous whistling-duck The fulvous whistling duck or fulvous tree duck (''Dendrocygna bicolor'') is a species of whistling duck that breeds across the world's tropical regions in much of Mexico and South America, the West Indies, the southern United States, sub-Saha ...

, and black rail. Volunteers have been working to compile a

butterfly Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The group comprises ...

list for the refuge. Over sixty species have been identified, including the extremely localized bay skipper (''

Euphyes bayensis ''Euphyes bayensis'', the bay skipper, is a butterfly of the family Hesperiidae. It is found in coastal Mississippi in the United States. The wingspan is 37–44 mm. Adults feed on flower nectar. The bay skipper is often confused with the ' ...

''). Recent projects to enhance and restore the

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

at the refuge include control of

invasive species An invasive species otherwise known as an alien is an introduced organism that becomes overpopulated and harms its new environment. Although most introduced species are neutral or beneficial with respect to other species, invasive species adv ...

like Chinese Tallow, prairie restoration, creation of moist soil areas, and a

colonial Colonial or The Colonial may refer to: * Colonial, of, relating to, or characteristic of a colony or colony (biology) Architecture * American colonial architecture * French Colonial * Spanish Colonial architecture Automobiles * Colonial (1920 a ...

waterbird

rookery A rookery is a colony of breeding animals, generally gregarious birds. Coming from the nesting habits of rooks, the term is used for corvids and the breeding grounds of colony-forming seabirds, marine mammals ( true seals and sea lions), an ...

. Three other national wildlife refuges on the Texas coast - Brazoria, San Bernard and Big Boggy - form a vital complex of coastal

wetland A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The ...

s harboring more than 300 bird species. Anahuac NWR is one of more than 560 refuges that comprise the U.S. National Wildlife Refuge System, a national network of lands and waters set aside for the benefit of wildlife. It has been designated as a site of international importanceAnahuac National Wildlife Refuge
WHSRN to shorebirds by the

Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network The Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network (WHSRN) is a conservation strategy targeting shorebirds in the Americas launched in 1985. Its aim is to protect the nesting, breeding and staging habitats of migratory shorebirds. The first site t ...

(WHSRN).WHSRN: A Strategy for Saving Shorebirds
Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network The refuge is designated as part of the Great Texas Coastal Birding Trail, a network of trails and wildlife viewing sites established by the

Texas Parks and Wildlife Department The Texas Parks & Wildlife Department (TPWD) is a Texas state agency that oversees and protects wildlife and their habitats. In addition, the agency is responsible for managing the state's parks and historical areas. Its mission is to manage ...

Gallery

Image:AnahuacSnowGeese.jpg,

Snow geese The snow goose (''Anser caerulescens'') is a species of goose native to North America. Both white and dark morphs exist, the latter often known as blue goose. Its name derives from the typically white plumage. The species was previously placed ...

flying in the refuge File:Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge (5A) Chambers Co. TX; 1 Dec 2018.jpg, Gulf coastal grassland and prairie habitat File:AnahuacxNWRHQ.JPG, Headquarters Image:Xylocopa_micans-female_wings.jpg,

Southern carpenter bee ''Xylocopa micans'', also known as the southern carpenter bee, is a species of bee within ''Carpenter bee, Xylocopa'', the genus of carpenter bees. The southern carpenter bee can be found mainly in the coastal and Gulf Coast of the United States, ...

Notes

References

External links

Friends of Anahuac Refuge

USFWS Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge
{{authority control National Wildlife Refuges in Texas Galveston Bay Area Protected areas of Chambers County, Texas Wetlands of Texas Landforms of Chambers County, Texas

Gallery

See also

Notes

References

External links