Christmas Bay is a small

bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a ''gulf'', ''sea'', ''sound'', or ''bight''. A ''cove'' is a small, ci ...

located on the

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

Gulf Coast in

Brazoria County, Texas Brazoria County ( ) is a county in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, the population of the county was 372,031. The county seat is Angleton. Brazoria County is included in the Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land metropolitan stat ...

, immediately southwest of West Bay, near 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 ...

system's southwest corner. It is a minor

estuary An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime enviro ...

, one of a series of estuaries along the Gulf Coast of Texas, and receives the discharge from

Bastrop Bayou Bastrop Bayou is a river in Texas in Brazoria County. See also *List of rivers of Texas References *USGS Geographic Names Information Service
*USGS Hydrologic Unit Map - State of Texas (1974) Rivers of Texas {{Texas-river-stub ...

, along with the adjacent coastal watershed. The bay is separated from the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico () is an oceanic basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, mostly surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north, and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States; on the southw ...

by Follet's Island and connects with it through San Luis Pass and Cold Pass. Its minor extensions are Bastrop Bay to the north and Drum Bay to the southwest. The nearest city is Freeport, about to the southwest at the mouth of the

Brazos River The Brazos River ( , ), called the ''Río de los Brazos de Dios'' (translated as "The River of the Arms of God") by early Spanish explorers, is the 14th-longest river in the United States at from its headwater source at the head of Blackwater ...

. The bay has a surface area of and features high water quality, vast

oyster reef The term ''oyster reef'' refers to dense aggregations of oysters that form large colonial communities. Because oyster larvae need to settle on hard substrates, new oyster reefs may form on stone or other hard marine debris. Eventually the oyster ...

s, and surrounding

salt marsh A salt marsh, saltmarsh or salting, also known as a coastal salt marsh or a tidal marsh, is a coastal ecosystem in the upper coastal intertidal zone between land and open saltwater or brackish water that is regularly flooded by the tides. I ...

habitat. The area has not been significantly impacted by human activities. Much of its shoreline is protected within the Brazoria National Wildlife Refuge.

History

Approximately 18 thousand years ago, the coast of the

took on its current shape during the last glacial period. Low global sea levels permitted the landmass of what is now

to stretch much farther south than it does now, and the Trinity River excavated a canyon on its way to the ocean through what is now the

Houston Ship Channel The Houston Ship Channel, in Houston, Texas, is part of the Port of Houston, one of the busiest seaports in the world. The channel (geography), channel is the conduit for ocean-going vessels between Houston-area terminals and the Gulf of Mexico, ...

's outlet. Rising sea levels filled this tiny canyon first when the glacial era ended, followed by the vast lowlands of today's Trinity Bay. Between 7 and 5 thousand years ago, rapid sea-level rise moved the Gulf Coast northward to its current latitude.

Ecology

This small bay is on the eastern coast of Texas near the city of

Galveston Galveston ( ) is a Gulf Coast of the United States, coastal resort town, resort city and port off the Southeast Texas coast on Galveston Island and Pelican Island (Texas), Pelican Island in the U.S. state of Texas. The community of , with a pop ...

. It is surrounded by the natural region of the

Western Gulf coastal grasslands The Western Gulf coastal grasslands () are a tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands, subtropical grassland ecoregion of the southern United States and northeastern Mexico. It is known in Louisiana as the "Cajun Prairie", T ...

and marshes. The plains are crossed by meandering streams that run southeast into the western

estuary and feature vast fresh and salty marshes. The

Texas Parks and Wildlife Department The Texas Parks & Wildlife Department (TPWD) is a Texas state agency that oversees and protects wildlife and their habitat (ecology), habitats. In addition, the agency is responsible for managing the state park, state's parks and historical ar ...

has classified the bay as a

nursery habitat In marine environments, a nursery habitat is a subset of all habitats where juveniles of a species occur, having a greater level of productivity per unit area than other juvenile habitats (Beck et al. 2001). Mangroves, salt marshes and seagrass ...

area and a Coastal Preserve because it supports a greater diversity of fin-fish than any other part of the Galveston Bay estuary system. The shallow-water perimeters of the preserve are home to the Texas

quahog The hard clam (''Mercenaria mercenaria''), also known as the round clam, hard-shell (or hard-shelled) clam, or the quahog, is an edible marine bivalve mollusk that is native to the eastern shores of North America and Central America from Prince ...

, an edible type of hard clam. Waterfowl and shorebirds, both migratory and permanent, can be found in the region.

Waterbird A water bird, alternatively waterbird or aquatic bird, is a bird that lives on or around water. In some definitions, the term ''water bird'' is especially applied to birds in freshwater ecosystems, although others make no distinction from seabi ...

s graze and nest on

cordgrass ''Spartina'' is a genus of plants in the grass family, frequently found in coastal salt marshes. Species in this genus are commonly known as cordgrass or cord-grass, and are native to the coasts of the Atlantic Ocean in western and southern Eu ...

stands, and huge

s may be found in the area. Two endangered bird species call it home, the

piping plover The piping plover (''Charadrius melodus'') is a small sand-colored, Passerellidae, sparrow-sized wader, shorebird that nests and feeds along coastal sand and gravel beaches in North America. The adult has yellow-orange-red legs, a black band acro ...

and

brown pelican The brown pelican (''Pelecanus occidentalis'') is a bird of the pelican family, Pelecanidae, one of three species found in the Americas and one of two that feed by diving into water. It is found on the Atlantic Coast from New Jersey to the mouth ...

Red drum The red drum (''Sciaenops ocellatus''), also known as redfish, channel bass, puppy drum, spottail bass, or simply red, is a game fish found in the Atlantic Ocean from Massachusetts to Florida and in the Gulf of Mexico from Florida to northern Mexi ...

, speckled trout, black drum, and

southern flounder The southern flounders or armless flounders are a small family, Achiropsettidae, of flounders found in Antarctic and sub-Antarctic waters. There are four genera, each with one species. The bodies of southern flounders are greatly compressed, wit ...

are all common fish on the bayside. This unusual and complicated mixing of waters from many sources serves as a nursery and breeding ground for a diverse range of marine life, including crabs, shrimp, oysters, and a variety of fish, resulting in a thriving

commercial fishing Commercial fishing is the activity of catching fish and other seafood for Commerce, commercial Profit (economics), profit, mostly from wild fisheries. It provides a large quantity of food to many countries around the world, but those who practice ...

industry. The bay's channels provide ideal habitat for

common bottlenose dolphin The common bottlenose dolphin or Atlantic bottlenose dolphin (''Tursiops truncatus'') is one of three species of bottlenose dolphin in the genus ''Tursiops''. The common bottlenose dolphin is a very familiar dolphin due to the wide exposure it re ...

s, which eat a variety of fish. In addition, the bayous, rivers, and marshes that surround the bay maintain their own ecosystems, supporting a varied range of fauna and allowing freshwater

crawfish Crayfish are freshwater crustaceans belonging to the infraorder Astacidea, which also contains lobsters. Taxonomically, they are members of the superfamilies Astacoidea and Parastacoidea. They breathe through feather-like gills. Some spe ...

farming. The marshes that surround the bay are home to a diverse range of wildlife. The American alligator and the

bobcat The bobcat (''Lynx rufus''), also known as the wildcat, bay lynx, or red lynx, is one of the four extant species within the medium-sized wild cat genus '' Lynx''. Native to North America, it ranges from southern Canada through most of the c ...

are notable terrestrial species, while the

roseate spoonbill The roseate spoonbill (''Platalea ajaja'') is a social wading bird of the ibis and spoonbill family, Threskiornithidae. It is a resident breeder in both South and North America. The roseate spoonbill's pink color is diet-derived, consisting of ...

great Great may refer to: Descriptions or measurements * Great, a relative measurement in physical space, see Size * Greatness, being divine, majestic, superior, majestic, or transcendent People * List of people known as "the Great" * Artel Great (bo ...

and

snowy egret The snowy egret (''Egretta thula'') is a small white heron. The genus name comes from Provençal French for the little egret, , which is a diminutive of , 'heron'. The species name ''thula'' is the Araucano term for the black-necked swan, a ...

s, white-faced ibis, and mottled duck are notable avian species.

Climate

The bay's climate is classed as

humid subtropical A humid subtropical climate is a subtropical -temperate climate type, characterized by long and hot summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between la ...

. Prevailing south and southeast breezes bring heat from Mexico's deserts and precipitation from the Gulf of Mexico. Summer temperatures routinely surpass , and the humidity in the area raises the

heat index The heat index (HI) is an index that combines air temperature and relative humidity, in shade (shadow), shaded areas, to posit a human-perceived equivalent temperature, as how hot it would feel if the humidity were some other value in the Shade (s ...

even further. Winters in the region are warm, with average winter highs of and lows of . Annual rainfall is considerably over on average, with the area reaching well over sometimes. During the fall season,

hurricane A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system with a low-pressure area, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depending on its ...

s are a constant concern.

References

External links

*
Christmas Bay Foundation
{{Waters of Texas Bays of Texas Estuaries of Texas Bodies of water of Brazoria County, Texas