Membership Meeting Thursday January 15, 2026 7:00 p.m. Garden Center, Tyrrell Park, Beaumont
Wyoming Vacations 2021 through 2025
Joseph Choate
Joseph Choate is a lifelong resident of Groves, TX. Growing up as a child, his parents would take the family on vacations to different parts of the country. As an adult, he continues to take vacation trips, notably visiting all 50 state capitols in a seven year period between 2013 and 2019. In that span of time, he has visited 33 National Parks.
His goal in going back to Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks was to see grizzly bears. In addition to seeing bears and a lot more than he ever expected to see, he also photographed coyote, moose, red foxes, bison, badger, pine martin and my first ever river otter in the wild. Last year and in 2024, He had the privilege of seeing what is normally a rare occurrence in the lower 48 states, the northern lights (aurora borealis).
He also photographed at least 30 plus species of birds, not what you would define as a “Big Year.” In the grand scheme of things, bears were not his top priority, everything was.
We plan to have the doors open at 6:00 p.m. The meeting will start at 7:00 p.m.
Saturday, January 17, 2026 Field Trip to Cattail Marsh, Beaumont
Meet at the parking lot for Cattail Marsh at 8:00 am. The parking lot is accessed from the loop road round the main picnic areas in Tyrrell Park.
In winter, there will usually be a good variety of ducks as well as other waterbirds, egrets and herons. Exactly where the birds are depends largely on the water depth in the various cells. Cell 1 -- the northernmost cell -- is the deepest and often has interesting ducks and grebes.
Many birds can be seen from the boardwalk and nearby roads with minimal walking, but the group will probably, weather permitting, make a leisurely three-or-so-mile hike round the various cells in the marsh. Be advised that, while you can turn around at any point, there are no meaningful "shortcuts" after you start on the levee between cells 3 and 4. The distance from the entrance to cell 1 by the direct route is about one mile (i.e. a two-mile round trip) if three miles is more than you can handle.
If you don't want to walk that far, there will be someone on the boardwalk to help you identify the many birds in the near cells.
Walking is on the levees; the main ones are graveled, but some of the interior ones are essentially mowed grass. This will be a good trip for beginning to intermediate birders, as most of the waterfowl and wading birds are relatively easy to study in the open water areas. We will try to have the Education Center open for those who do not want to make the hike. We understand that the pair of Bald Eagles that has nested in the Cattail Marsh area has hatched at least one chick.