This site is primarily a migrant songbird site. Bird the trees around the butterfly garden at the east end for migrants. Most winters Vermilion Flycatchers are present around the garden. In the Spring and Fall migrants songbird use the trees, particularly the mulberries. In the winter look for sparrows, Swamp, Song, Lincolns, and White-crowned are present most winters. Harris Sparrows are uncommon but annual. Continue down the board walk to the Willows Pond, watching for Vermilion Flycatchers in the the winter. At the willow there is a drip and benches. The trees around the pond attach migrant songbirds in the spring and fall. Northern Waterthrush has often wintered around the pond. Orchard Oriole and Eastern Kingbird usually nest here.

Migrant Songbirds

This short trail and boardwalk can be accessed either from the parking by the Visitor Information Station and Nature Store at the east end or from the parking on the west end on the Shoveler Pond Loop. As with all checklists in the refuge take it with a grain of salt, Many birds seem to use one site for the entirety of the refuge and many of the reports are not expected to occur at the site.

Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1963 to provide wintering and migration habitats for ducks and geese. We protect the coastal marsh for migratory and resident waterfowl, shorebirds, and waterbirds. The refuge is one of three refuges in the Texas Chenier Plain Wildlife Refuge Complex, and one of a string of wildlife refuges situated on the Gulf of Mexico. We are a designated Globally Important Bird Area, Monarch Waystation, and a Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network Site of International Importance. The 37,000-acre refuge is located on the Texas Gulf Coast just outside the Houston, Texas metropolitan area. 

There is no fee to visit the refuge. This refuge is very large and most of it is roadside accessible, however, there are also a few walking trails and a boat launch. As with most hotspots in this area, visitors should be adequately prepared for mosquitos and be alert for venomous snakes and spiders.