Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge

Laguna Atascosa was established in 1946 to give wintering waterfowl, mainly redhead ducks, a place to feed on the Texas coast. The refuge's own count of 417 recorded bird species is, by its account, more than any other national wildlife refuge. It also holds what the Fish and Wildlife Service calls the largest population of ocelots in the United States. The cats hunt in the brushlands, and aplomado falcons hunt over the grasslands.

The refuge grew by large purchases. In 2000 it took in the Bahia Grande Unit, 21,700 acres of which almost half is wetland, around a 6,500-acre basin. That year the Nature Conservancy bought 24,532 acres on South Padre Island, later transferred to the refuge, which now includes more than eight miles of beach. Managed archery hunts began in 1970 and firearm hunts in 1979.

The visitor center is at 22817 Ocelot Road in Los Fresnos, with feeding stations and short paved trails. The Steve Thompson Wildlife Drive is a 14.2-mile loop, mostly paved, that suits a bicycle; Lakeside Drive runs 1.5 miles of caliche to a 3,500-acre freshwater lake and Osprey Overlook, the only driving trail on the refuge. About twenty trails in all run from 0.3 mile to more than six miles. Trails stay open from sunrise to sunset every day of the year, and the refuge advises coming from dawn to 9:30 a.m. or after 4:30 p.m., when animals are active. Binoculars can be rented at the visitor center.