Trinity River National Wildlife Preserve
Today we wandered down to the Trinity River National Wildlife Preserve. It’s down by highways 90 and 146 in Liberty Texas. I finally purchased some industrial strength mosquito spray but it was so windy we didn’t need it. The industrial strength Deet is impressive. Six hours after applying it, we still stank bad enough to be embarrassed to go into a restaurant. I have no idea if it works on the mosquitoes or not?
This is the second time we’ve run across these carp. They are about 18″ long, silver backed and white bellied. They jump out of the water 2′ to 6′ high. Often they jump out several times in sequence like a skipping stone. They are actually a problem to fishermen down here. They jump into boats, jump on fishermen and they can get quite large weighing up to 60 pounds. In some lakes I’m told the locals take metal trashcan lids to use as shields against the fish.
The carp come out of the water face first, fly sideways about 2′-4′ then dive back in.
There was not much to see in the way of critters. It turns out alligators hibernate when the temperature drops to between 80′-75′. It’ll be late March before we see more of them. The only birds we saw were egrets and ibis and those only from a distance.
One of the things that jumps out at you at these refuges is how quiet it is. Do you know how quiet your house is when the power goes out? This is quieter than that. Except when the wind blows. Then the old leaves on the fan palms rattle so loud it sounds like a gorilla is crashing through the woods.
It wasn’t as impressive as the other refuges we’ve seen lately, but I think it is one of the larger ones. We’d probably have liked it better if we waited until spring to visit.
