William Henry Schroeder Island is in
Victoria, TX
(not open to the public at this time)
The William Henry Schroeder Island became the 5th TOS Sanctuary during spring 2003 with the donation of the 41 acres of land by Kathryn Schroeder Jericho, Esther Schroeder Ellis, the children of Arthur G. Schroeder, Jr., and Paul E. Schroeder. The land was donated to TOS in order to preserve the island's wildlife habitat for future generations.
William Henry Schroeder, a building contractor in the early days of Victoria, purchased "Schroeder Island" as a source of firewood and pecans on 8 October 1889. The island was accessed during low water periods of late summer and early fall to obtain a year's supply of firewood, and nuts for tasty pastries and baked goods. At about 1900, a large flood occurred on the Guadalupe River which changed the course of the river and added much silt which created the basic shape of the land today creating a landlocked oxbow bordering the river.
All of the land between the original oxbow and the river are part of the sanctuary with the western end within the oxbow exhibiting a natural old growth hardwood forest that is rare in the Victoria area. The eastern end near the river is a much more disturbed setting with many old sandbars and sloughs from changing river courses. One unique aspect of the habitat is that the oxbow has been colonized by dense swamp privet which is used by many migrants and brings the birds much closer to the birder. Otherwise, birding is spent trying to view birds in the canopy 80 feet above the ground.
