Thursday, October 29, 2009

Welcome, and Van Tours of Refuge Begin in November

We're so happy to present to you the official blog for the Friends of Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge. Located in North Texas, on the Big Mineral Arm of Lake Texoma, Hagerman NWR offers an 11,000 acre plus habitat - water, wetlands, prairie and woods - for wildlife. The primary mission of the Refuge is to offer a safe resting and feeding area for migratory waterfowl.

The Friends’ main focus is helping Refuge staff in providing our visitors a first-class experience in education, conservation, appreciation of nature, and fun. We plan to use this blog as a way to keep everyone informed about the activities and events at the Refuge as well as bird sightings.

Huge flocks of geese will soon be arriving to spend the winter at Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge, and human visitors to the Refuge will have the opportunity to take a free van tour to view these geese as well as other wildlife at the Refuge, starting in November. Two-hour tours will be conducted by Refuge staff on the first and third Wednesday in November, December, January, and February. There will also be a tour on December 30. During the tour, visitors will learn the process of creating and maintaining the 11,000 acre habitat for resident and migratory wildlife, particularly birds.


Visitors can expect to see pelicans, numerous species of ducks, four species of geese, several species of sparrows, as well as white - tailed deer and wild turkeys.
Reservations will be required for the tours and can be made by calling the Refuge, 903 786 2826. The Tours will depart from the Visitor Center at the Refuge at 10 a.m. on the designated days. Each trip will be limited to twelve people. Binoculars will be available on a free loan-basis.

We hope you've enjoyed this introduction to the Friends of Hagerman NWR blog! You can bookmark our page for easy retrieval. We also want to hear from you, so feel free to click the comment button below to let us know what you think.

We're planning to post a new blog entry every week, so stay tuned for our next post, which will feature events coming up on our Second Saturday Nature Program Series.

For more information about activities at the Refuge, see
http://www.friendsofhagerman.com . To learn more about Hagerman NWR, see http://southwest.fws.gov/refuges/texas/hagerman .