Memorial Park

Head to the back of the park and you’ll find the duck pond — a perennial favorite for kids. White domestic ducks have made it home and are completely unbothered by visitors. The pond is also loaded with turtles, which sun themselves on logs and rocks along the banks. A great first wildlife stop for young visitors who aren’t ready for the binoculars yet.

Walk under the arched canopy of the live oaks and you enter a different world. Northern Cardinals dart through the underbrush alongside squirrels. Wrens and vireos work the low branches. During spring and fall migration the same canopy that shelters the residents fills with warblers, tanagers, and orioles looking for a place to rest after crossing the Gulf. Five bird observation benches along the trail give you places to sit and let the birds come to you.

Out front near the soccer and baseball fields, Great-tailed Grackles own the open ground. Some people find them noisy — and they are — but they’re pure Texas. The iridescent black males with their enormous tails stalking across a mown field are one of those birds that just feels right on the Texas coast. If you’re from anywhere else in the country, you won’t see this at home.

The trails pass through native groundcover that hosts Gulf Fritillary, Queen, and Painted Lady butterflies year-round. In fall the Gulf Fritillaries are especially abundant — their vivid orange wings are easy to spot against the green understory. Worth slowing down for even if you came for the birds.