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Winnie Texas September 26th, 2003 by Mike Cong.
26 September 2003. TX: Travis Co.: Austin, BFL: Let left BFL at 8:15 to
go to our field trip to Southeast Texas. We traveled South on Mopac to
Highway 71, East on 71 for about 80 miles. Then we went on I-10 east for
about 120 miles. We turned North on FM 565 drove for 3 miles, then turned
right on FM 1409, and then a right on CR 417. We arrived at Trinity River
Refuge in Liberty, Texas. We waited on the Refuge manager, Stuart Marcus,
to meet us up. He showed us around and later we started seining. By the
boat ramp, we caught several different families of fish. We caught our
first fish from the family Atherinidae. Which has two dorsal fins and a
silver stripe that goes down its body. It looks remarkably similar to a
minnow, but it has two dorsal fins instead of one. We also caught fish
from the family Centrachidae. We identified it as the Bantom Sunfish
based on vertical bands. The next group we caught was a member of the
Fundulidae family. We also caught a member of the Clupeidae family. In
the muddy creek across the gravel road. The last freshwater family of
fishes we caught was the Poeciliidaes. We caught mainly females but we
were finally able to catch a male later in the creek. We also caught an
Anchovy and were able to see a Needle fish (Belonidae) fisherman caught.
We caught the Anchovy in a small muddy creek on the other side gravel road.
We also saw lizard species from the family Polychrotidae and Scincidae. I
saw several Anolis carolinensis in the tall grass that lined the river.
Scott said he saw a member of the scincidae family by the portable bathroom.
I think he said it was a Eumeces fasciatus. We also saw a Scincella
lateralis while walking through the forest. But Travis was not able to
capture it. We also saw a large flock of migrating Mycteria Americana (Wood
Storks) flying overhead. We also saw an Anhinga. Perched with their wings
half open. It turns out they do not have oil gland, so they have to dry
their wings that way. The most impressive bird we saw was the Osprey.
After the Trinity River Refuge, we went back to I-10 East to Winnie. We got
off I-10 and went on Tx-73. We got off a the Gulfway dr. and then turned
left on main street. And arrived at Winnie Inn. After checking in and
cooking dinner. We did some night driving.
We started driving around before the sun started going down. This is the
time when most snakes come out to the road to soak up heat from the warm
roads. We started going North on FM road 1406. Which became FM road 365.
At the four miles marker, we spotted a road hit Regina rigida. It was
cross the right side of the street. It was about 2 feet long. FM road 365
later became FM road 326. We then turned West 105 at the 23.9 mile marker.
At the 37.9 mile marker, we turned North to 770. At the 40.3 mile marker,
we turned west on 787. Then at the 50.8 marker, we turned right on East
1293. At the 64.4 marker we turned to North 1003. At 67.6 mile marker we
turned to North 943. At the 70.3 mile marker of North 943. we spotted a
road killed Rana utricularia in the middle of the road. At the 72.3 mile
marker of North 943, we spotted a young Rana catesbeiana in the middle of
the road. At the 73.3 mile we spotted a live Storeria dekayi.
We learned that there are two different subspecies of that snake here. There is the
Texas and the Marsh subspecies. The Texas species has the "large blotch
back of head" according to Peterson's field guide. The one that we
spotted was the Storeria dekayi texana. We then went left on 2798 South.
At the 101.8 mile marker, we went to 787 east. At the 115.5 mile marker,
we went to south 770. At the 117.7 mile marker, we turned to 105 south.
We did a U-turn East on 105. At the 137 mile marker we turned south on
326. Found a dead Nerodia fasciata at the 144.2 mile marker. At the 150.7
mile marker. We took 1426 South. This street took us back to Winnie and
we ended our first night of night driving.
We did a little bit of morning driving. We spotted road killed turtle
from the family Kinosternidae and Emydidae. We also found a road killed
Neodra rhombife. We then went back to Winnie Inn. Our next stop was to
JD Murphree Wildlfe Management Area. We took Highway 73 for about 25
miles to get there. While walking to the seining site, we saw two
Alligator mississippiensis.
We learned that the eyes to snout in inches
is about in feet from eye to tail. We did some seining when we got to
the site. We were only able to catch some poeciliidaes and centrarchidae.
Dr. Hall also saw a snake but we weren't able to catch it.
After JD Murphree we went to get lunch and then we were headed off to
Smith Oaks Woods Bird Sanctuary. But before we got there, we spotted two
road killed snakes. We found a Lampropeltis calligaster and a Lampropeltis
getula (speckled). We headed South on 124. Turned right on Weeks avenue
and then headed to Winnie street and then arrived there after some random
turns. The coolest thing we saw there were Humming birds! They flew so
fast! We saw a lot of Anolis carolinensis on the brick house.
After Smith Oaks, we headed off to Anahuac wildlife refuge. We went back
to Winnie and then took I-10 to FM road 562. Then went to FM 1985. And
that took us to the entrance of Anahuac wildlife refuge. Somewhere in
there, we found a very road hammered Thamnophis proximus. As soon as we
got there, we turned around and went back to Winnie. We cooked dinner
and set off to night drive.
We drove highway 124 south. At the 9.5 mile marker, we found a Nerodia
cyclopion. We turned west on 1985 at the 10.8 mile marker. We saw a
Thamnophis proximus at the 13.5 mile marker. At the 17.5 mile marker, we
collected a Nerodia erythrogaster flavigaster. At the 19.3 mile marker,
we collected a road killed Nerodia cyclopion. We collected another
Nerodia erythrogaster flavigaster at the 21.8 mile marker. It was alive
but hit by a car. At the 21.9 mile marker, we turn south on to the
Anahuac Wildlife Refuge road. We then turn north back on Anahuac road.
We turn east on 1985 at the 28.3 mile marker. At the 31.8 mile marker,
we found a road killed Thamnophis proximus. At the 32.9 mile marker, we
found another Nerodia cyclopion. At the 33.2 mile marker, we find a
Nerodia erythrogaster transversa. At the 34.1 mile marker, we find
another Nerodia cyclopion. At the 39.5 mile marker, we go back on west
1985. At the 44.8 mile marker, we find our first Storeria dekayi of the
night. At the 45.2 mile marker, we find a road killed Storeria dekayi.
At the 45.3 mile marker we find our first poisonous snake. It is the
Agkistrodon piscivorus. However, it was a road killed female and it
was in too bad of a shape to be kept. It turned out to be a female. At
the 45.5 mile marker we find another Storeria dekayi. At the 48.6 mile
marker we find another Nerodia cyclopion, but John caught this one and
was bit like no other. We decided to release the snake. At 50.5 mile
marker we turned on Anahuac Wildlife Refuge road. At the 54.4 mile
marker, we found another road killed Agkistrodon piscivorus. This one was really sad because it was killed on a Wildlife Refuge gravel road.
I mean it's a wildlife refuge, you shouldn't be driving that fast. And
second you should always stop for the animals. This Agkistrodon
piscivourus was about 3 feet long. At 61.1 we left the Anahuac refuge
road and went back East on 1985. At the 62 mile marker, we saw a young
Mephitis mephitis (Striped Skunk) on the side of the road. It went into
the bushes when we got too close. At the 63.2 mile marker, we saw
another Storeria dekayi. This one was the marsh version. At the 64.4
miles marker, we saw a road killed Nerodia fasciata. At the 67.1 mile
marker, we saw a road killed Thamnophis proximus. At the 71.1 mile
marker, we turned North on 124. At the 80.1 mile maker, we went East
on Main street. At 83.7 mile marker, we stopped another Thamnophis
proximus. At the 83.7 mile marker, we turned north on Englin Road. We
then turned West on 73. We ended our night driving at that point and
went back to the hotel.
On Sunday morning, we headed back to JD Murphree Wildlife Management
Area to see the results of an Alligator hunt. We went on highway 73
and then on East 10. There were 2 Alligator mississippiensis that were
hauled up. The first one was an 8 foot female and the second one was a
smaller male. The Gators were hooked by using a rotten chicken bait
and then shot behind the head. Both gators were freshly killed. I
wonder why Gators prefer rotten chicken compared to fresh chicken.
Maybe the smell of rotten chicken attacts them more. Dr. Hall showed
us quite a bit of Gator anatomy. After that we traveled back to
Austin, Texas.
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