Photo credit: Dana Nelson, Cattail Marsh, December 18, 2018. Credit for Website Design: Jeff Pittman.
You are welcome to attend monthly meetings, featuring speakers on birding and natural history topics, and including a delicious member-provided evening meal -- with desserts! Our monthly field trips are fun and educational, and focus on locations along the coast, marshes, prairies, and forests of the area.
Membership Meeting Thursday January 23, 2025 7:00 p.m. Garden Center, Tyrrell Park, Beaumont
Rehabbing in Southeast Texas
Donald Kamp Village Mills, Texas
Donald Kamp is a licensed rehabber in Hardin County for small mammals, amphibians, reptiles (tortoises), bobcats, bears, mountain lions. We plan to have the doors open at 6:00 p.m. The meeting will start at 7:00 p.m.
Saturday, January 25, 2025 Field Trip to Cattail Marsh, Beaumont
Meet at the parking lot for Cattail Marsh at 8:00 am. The parking lot is accessed from the loop road round the main picnic areas in Tyrrell Park.
In winter, there will usually be a good variety of ducks as well as other waterbirds, egrets and herons. Exactly where the birds are depends largely on the water depth in the various cells. Cell 1 -- the northernmost cell -- is the deepest and often has interesting ducks and grebes.
Many birds can be seen from the boardwalk and nearby roads with minimal walking, but the group will probably make a leisurely three-or-so-mile hike round the various cells in the marsh. Be advised that, while you can turn around at any point, there are no meaningful "shortcuts" after you start on the levee between cells 3 and 4.
If you don't want to walk that far, there will be someone on the boardwalk to help you identify the many birds in the near cells. Walking is on the levees; the main ones are graveled, but some of the interior ones are essentially mowed grass. This will be a good trip for beginning to intermediate birders, as most of the waterfowl and wading birds are relatively easy to study in the open water areas. We will try to have the Education Center open for those who do not want to make the hike.
Directions to Tyrrell Park
From the South Go "north" on US69/96/287 around the south side of Beaumont. Take Highway 124 west (left) towards Fannett At the first light, turn left onto Tyrrell Park Road and go about 3/4 mile. Turn left into the Park through the arch. Continue ahead and proceed about two- thirds of the way round the main loop and into the well-marked Cattail Marsh parking area.
From IH10 Exit at Walden Road on the west side of Beaumont and turn south (right) on Walden Road. At the light at Highway 124, go straight ahead on Tyrrell Park Road and then as above.
Texas Ornithological Society 2025 Winter Meeting in the Golden Triangle
The 2025 winter meeting of the Texas Ornithological Society will be held in the Golden Triangle – Beaumont, Port Arthur, and Orange – on January 16-19, 2025. Event registration began on December 9, 2024 See the TOS web site at https://www.texasbirds.org/lets-go-birding/tos-annual-meetings-events-workshops/2025-winter-meeting-in-the-golden-triangle/ All activities – event check-in, trip departures, presentations and the Saturday night banquet – will take place at the host hotel, the Holiday Inn & Suites Beaumont Plaza on Walden Road in Beaumont. TOS merchandise will be on sale, Golden Triangle Audubon Society will host an information table, and there will be a prize drawing at each evening’s presentation. We will also have a Chance Auction and lots of time to socialize.