Migratory songbrids congregate in Bobcat Woods of Brazoria County

Don’t expect to see bobcats along the Bobcat Woods Trail at the San Bernard National Wildlife Refuge, but do expect to see migratory songbirds arriving from winter homes in Latin America.

Songbirds headed to North America make a seemingly miraculous, 600-mile flight across the Gulf of Mexico from take-off spots on Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula. They first arrive in coastal preserves like the San Bernard Refuge.

Bobcat Woods provides the songbirds a respite from their exhausting flight. A dense forest with a bushy understory surrounds Cocklebur Slough and serves up a bounty of insects to fortify the little birds.

An ADA-accessible wooden boardwalk cuts about a half-mile through the woods, with benches and platforms overlooking the placid slough. It then continues another half-mile around the west side of the woods facing Wolfweed Wetlands.

Stroll slowly on the boardwalk to keep alert for migratory songbirds, such as black-and-white warblers. They scurry around tree limbs and trunks looking for insects. Watch the forest floor for a brownish-colored ovenbird kicking up leaf litter to stir up insects.

What: 1.5 mile boardwalk in the 54-thousand-acre San Bernard National Wildlife Refuge in Brazoria County

Where: Turn right off FM 2918 onto County Road 306 and drive approximately 1.5 miles to entrance on Ivy Lane.

Activities: Birdwatching and other nature observations at Bobcat Woods, Scissor-tailed Flycatcher Trail, Cedar Lakes Creek Trail, and on a drive around the 3-mile Moccasin Pond Loop.

Details: Free to all ages and open daily sunrise to sunset. Take binoculars, sunscreen, a hat, and mosquito repellant.

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The slough’s muddy edges are heaven-sent for birds such as northern and Louisiana waterthrushes. They pluck up invertebrates such as beetles and water fleas while bobbing the back half of their bodies in unison with their tails.

A yellow-billed cuckoo could be sneaking through tree foliage while plucking caterpillars off leaves and twigs. A scarlet tanager with a crimson body and black wings could be conspicuously making quick aerial sallies to capture flying insects.

Coastal woodlots offer no guarantee to see bunches of migratory birds, but it’s likely you’ll see birds and more at Bobcat Woods.

The boardwalk features multiple educational panels about plants and critters. Study the panel showing a southern leopard frog, bullfrog and green tree frog. Then look closely at the palmetto leaves springing up in the understory to find a green tree frog atop one of the broad green leaves.

Inchworms moving along the edges of the boardwalk are caterpillars that will eventually metamorphose into geometer moths. They pull their rear legs underneath to connect with their front legs, arch their midsection, and reach or “inch” the front legs forward to move along in a looping motion.

They evade hungry songbirds by dangling at the end of a thin silken string hanging from a tree. Birds get them, anyway. Good thing because inchworms are garden pests.

Gary Clark is the author of “Book of Texas Birds,” with photography by Kathy Adams Clark (Texas A&M University Press). Email him at Texasbirder@comcast.net.