This is bird note.

Tucked away in Southeast Texas is one of the most remarkable enclaves of nature.

Known as the big picket, this natural region is home to ten different ecosystems,

ranging from cypress bayous and arid sandy lands to palmetto pickets, pine forests, marshes, and grasslands.

Such a wide variety of natural landscapes provides homes for a broad array of birds and other wildlife.

More than 1,300 species of plants, including 30 wild orchids, have been tallied in the big picket.

Small wonder, the region has been called America's Ark.

This spectacular diversity of plants is made possible by the dozens of soil types,

deposited by the outflow from melting glaciers at the end of the last ice age.

Since the 1970s, the National Park Service has set aside nearly 100,000 acres,

or about 3% of this biographic region.

Called the Big Picket Natural Preserve, a valuable piece of this utterly unique natural world has been conserved.

Let's listen again to America's Ark, as bullfrogs sing alongside northern cardinals and forthonitary warblers.

The soundscape featured was recorded by Gordon Hempton and provided courtesy of QuietPlanet.com.