Check the gardens and surrounding areas for sparrows and wrens in the winter.  Then explore the abandoned rail bed that goes through an attractive wetland.

During the summer, look for Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Painted and Indigo Buntings, Blue Grosbeak, Summer Tanager, Eastern Kingbird, Eastern Wood-Pewee and White eyed, Yellow-throated, Red-eyed and Bell's Vireos. The area is particularly good for breeding bottomland warblers, including Northern Parula, Prothonotary, Kentucky, Yellow-throated and Swainson's Warblers, Yellow-breasted Chat and Common Yellowthroat. Check areas of open water for herons, American Bittern, Roseate Spoonbill and Wood Stork. The site is excellent for migrating warblers and other songbirds in late April through mid-May.

From the intersection of Hwy. 69 and FM 37 in Mineola, go south on US 69 for about 2.5 miles and turn left (east) on FM 564, then follow the signs to the Mineola Preserve. This involves turning right (east) on Wood CR 2724 and following that to the preserve entrance, which is on the right. The site is bordered on the south by the Sabine River, on the west by US 69, on the north by Wood CR 2740, and on the east by a fence between the adjacent private property.

The Mineola Nature Preserve on the Sabine River encompasses 2,911 acres located in Wood County, and is home to East Texas species of critters that can fly, walk, crawl, and slither, and home to more than 193 species of birds, numerous wildlife, buffalo, longhorn cattle, and a pristine wetlands environment.