The Bahia Grande Unit of Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge (LANWR) near Port Isabel, Texas, covers about 25,000 acres, approximately 40 percent of which consists of wetlands. The area is closed to the public except for hunts and during special events. Friends of Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge (FLANWR) sponsor a bike ride, Bike the Bahia, each month. Another event, Walk the Bahia, is scheduled to begin in March 2024. Yesterday, January 28, I scouted the proposed route.
The area called Bahia Grande consists of three main shallow bodies of water: Bahia Grande (the largest), Laguna Larga, and Vadia Ancha. These wetlands hosted many species of fish, local and migrating birds, and other wildlife.
Construction of the Brownsville Ship Channel almost a century ago cut the natural tidal flow to the area, which subsequently dried and succumbed to the prevailing winds. The Fish and Wildlife Service acquired the property and with public and private partners began restoration in 2005 with a pilot channel returning flow to the area. It is the largest estuary restoration project in the country.
I began my walk at an entrance on State Highway 48, about four miles southeast of Port Isabel. I strapped my fanny pack on with a bottle of water, hung my binoculars from a shoulder and a camera around my neck. My nose ran in the chill as the sun rose in the clear blue sky.
Although I could hear traffic and equipment at the liquified natural gas project across the highway, the crunch of gravel beneath my feet and the calls of Northern Cardinals, Long-billed Thrashers and Northern Mockingbirds became the prominent sounds. A flock of seven honking Sandhill Cranes passed overhead.
I walked northward, up a slight grade, and down to Paso Corvina, a low area where, historically, water flowed. There I stopped to watch a line of at least 100 White Pelicans glide just overhead. A Great Egret and a Great Blue Heron took flight as I crunched across Paso Corvina.
At 1.4 miles, I left the main road and took a dirt road west toward Bahia Grande. Thick thornscrub lined the south side of the road with open land with low brush and yucca to the north. The crisp air smelled of mulch. Meadowlarks sang from perches on yuccas. Yellow-rumped Warblers flitted about in the thornscrub. Two White-tailed Deer bounded away from me. A Northern Harrier perched atop a yucca stump.
I stopped often to listen and to watch the magic of the morning as I intruded upon the habitat of the birds and other wildlife. At half a mile I came to an intersection. The road continued west to Bahia Grande, and another ran northwest, the proposed route of Walk the Bahia. A White-tailed Deer stood looking at me to the west. I walked that way another two-tenths of a mile to the water’s edge.
Scores of Redhead Ducks, White Pelicans, Northern Shovelers, Pintails and many other birds floated on or perched near the calm water. I walked northward along the shoreline, spooking egrets and herons as I went. I saw tracks of a bobcat, racoons, deer and nilgai along the shore.
At three-tenths of a mile, I reached a canal that allows flow between Vadia Ancha and Bahia Grande. From there I walked southeast almost a half mile to the intersection where I had detoured and started again from there along the proposed route to the canal.
I followed the canal nine-tenths of a mile north to a wide area and then east to a bridge on the main road over the canal. Roseate Spoonbills graced the banks of the water. White Pelicans floated along with other waterfowl. A Tri-colored Heron lifted off and flew low over the water at my approach. Five Nilgai Antelope crossed the road far to the north of me.
From the bridge I walked southward two miles to my starting point and the sound of traffic on the highway near the entrance to the Bahia Grande Unit of LANWR. I covered six miles during my walk, five of which will be the Walk the Bahia route.
