Brazoria National Wildlife Refuge - Texas

Brazoria NWR was established in 1969 on 44,414 acres southwest of Galveston Island, Texas. It is east of Hwy 288 and the towns of Angleton and Lake Jackson, and west of the Gulf of Mexico, separated by Follett Island and Christmas Bay. It has a freshwater slough that runs through salt marshes, with a 1.2 mile loop trail over and near the slough and a 7.5 mile auto route on a gravel road that goes through part of the refuge. We visited on a very rainy and wet day when getting out of the car for any length of time was not an option we were willing to give much consideration.  

This board walk goes over the Big Slough and is the beginning of the 1.2 mile loop trail. It was two rainy to consider doing the walk. 

Following is some of the wildlife we saw in our short visit:

We saw this roseate spoonbill just inside the refuge which gave Judy her first good look at a bird she'd been admiring from some distance previously. 

White ibis

Much of the bird life was at a great distance, such as these white ibis...

and these white ibis and great egrets. 

Judy was excited to see this roseate spoonbill. I was excited to see the surrounding yellow-crowned night herons, only the second time I've seen a yellow-crowned night heron. 

I was also excited to see these black-bellied whistling ducks, also only the second time I've seen them. I spotted them from the trail over the Big Slough which I walked just a small portion of because of the rain. 

This is a juvenile black-bellied whistling duck. 

This is a great place for birding and I wish we'd visited under better weather conditions. As it was, I was excited to see some of the birds we were able to see.