Fish Hatchery Birding

[Tom]

Does anyone ever go to the fish hatchery by the Lake Worth dam to bird? It might be a good place for a field trip one of these days.

[dpbronze]

We've had some mixed experience with the hatchery. It is (like all of them) a terribly under-funded holding of the state Dept of Parks & Wildlife. They don't still do fish there. We also have a working partnership with a group from Lockheed Martin ( on Carswell right next door to the OSFH) & we've had to move on to efforts at the FW Nature Center instead. It was too hard to keep projects in motion at the hatchery.
That said ... we have a group who goes there on our Christmas & Spring Bird Counts & the habitat is great ! It is just real hard to get a person to get you thru the gates any time. Dp

[JimJones]

Tom and all,
The Old State Fish Hatchery is still open to birders Monday thru Friday during the daytime. They ask that you stop in at their office (second building after entering) to let them know you will be on the property. It is a great birding location with thickly overgrown marshes (thrush,thrasher), several ponds for wintering ducks, and old growth post oaks at the south end of the property (some of the trunks are 60" in diameter!).

The reason we don't go there that often is the hacthery is closed on weekends. There is an employee who lives on-site to watch over the grounds. The supervisor has requested that if you want to bird on the weekend to call their office and ask. If the employee is going to be there he will open the gate for you. But that has proven difficult because compounding all of this is after 9/11 the Fort Worth Water Authority put a new locked gate in to restrict access to the entrance road to Lake Worth Dam (which is where the entrance to the fish hatchery is). The gate is open on weekdays when the fish hatchery personnel are at work, but closed and locked after business hours. The gate is monitored from a remote facility.... when it is opened on weekends a security person has shown up to investigate even when permission was previously obtained. They also installed cameras along the berm of the dam so smile if you sneak in (:>)

On the Christmas Bird Count we obtain permission to explore all of the grounds on the 'penninsula' which is formed by the river as it discharges from the dam then curves around to the west towards the Naval Air Station. Properties on this penninsula include the dam, the grounds and marsh which run along the south end of Lake Worth, the Old State Fish Hatchery, Camp Carter YMCA camp, the Federal Womens Prison (we can only observe their grounds through the fencing) and the Allen's (sp) Conservation Estate. I am unsure of the exact size, but in all I guestimate there are 300 acres of great habitat.

Besides getting to the dam, you can also stop in at the Camp Carter office on weekdays and request permission to bird their property as well. They charge a nominal daily fee. The camp straddles both sides of the river and also includes the horse riding facility and high-plains grassy fields up on top of the hill (near Meandering Way). Talk about a range of habitat!

You can only get to the Conservation Estate by driving through Camp Carter or by walking from the fish hatchery (about 1 mile). The YMCA staff care for the area and there is a 1.5 mile foot trail through this majestic old growth post oak wilderness. So even if you try entering from the hatchery, you should still call Camp Carter for permission. (their grounds keeper lives along this back entranceway and will call authorities if you are not supposed to be there (personal experience). Camp Carter offers inner city children from Fort Worth ISD a chance to explore the outdoors throughout the school year and also has their Indian Princess campers every weekend. So security is an issue for them. In the estate, some of these trees are massive! And I swear the temperature drops 10 degrees when you enter this shaded area on hot summer days. Our count leader told me that FWAS used to go there every year back in the 1990's because of the birding.

We are always finding at least one surprise in this bird count area. In the last few years there has been a Red-headed Woodpecker found three times.

To organize field trips to the Old State Fish Hatchery on weekends is difficult because of the gates. It has to remain closed and locked so everyone needs to get there on time to drive in. Since some members are occassionally late there would be grumblings if they show up and can't get in. I am not sure if Camp Carter would allow a weekend field trip. I never asked. This area is primarily birded on foot as well, so that limits who can join in. The women's prison seems easy enough to get into for our female members (just break the law).

If you would like to join our CBC (and Spring Count) group, call either myself or David Powel. The CBC is this Saturday and we meet at 6:30 AM at the locked gate.