I woke up nice and early for my free day today, and I was greeted by the sound of rain on my windowpane. Ugh! Even worse, I checked the radar online, and Dallas appeared to be under a huge green blob that wouldn’t drift away until the afternoon. Argh! That was not what I had ordered at all.
When it became light enough outside to suggest that the sun had risen, however, it was no longer raining, and since I had no better idea, I grabbed my gear, hopped in my rental, and drove to a spot reputed to be one of the best birding locations in Dallas, “White Rock Lake & Old Fish Hatchery“.
It felt like I was at a zoo! I counted twelve (12!) black-crowned night herons. They were just standing around on a huge spillway at the south end of the lake, and here’s one of them.
There were so many, in fact, that one pissed off a great blue heron, who dramatically expressed its displeasure.
I saw eight great egrets fly over, but I was more excited to see my first snowy egret ever in the US.
I was there for nearly three hours, and it never did rain, but I finally tore myself away so that I would have time to visit another nearby hot spot: Harry Moss Park. There, it did rain a bit, but I had my umbrella, and I finally saw my first ducklings of the year, these cute little mallards taking a nap under Mom’s watchful eye.
There was even a tufted titmouse, which I’ve shown you already from Connecticut, and which has been reported in Estabrook, but I have yet to see. I’m making a point now to photograph them every time I hear them so that when I do get the chance in Estabrook, I’ll be ready.
Finally, I saw this beauty earlier in the morning, back at the White Rock spillway, but I saved the picture for last because it is so amazing. I was just walking up the path beside the spillway, and I noticed a slight movement behind the chain-link fence they put up to keep us from falling in. Once I saw what it was, I froze and held my breath as I brought my camera to bear.
Kitty hardly moved, however, and we just stared at each other through the fence for a minute, although as I write this, I can see that it isn’t even looking at me in this picture. I was so preoccupied with making sure that I captured a nice image through the fence and brush, that I didn’t take the time to see what it might have been looking at. Maybe it was also preoccupied by something, because it even let me take a step-or-two forward so that I could frame its whole face in a single gap in the fence.
When it did start to move, it did so nice and slowly, and for a tenth of a second, I thought it might come over to rub against my leg, it seemed so calm. Alas, that was not to be, and instead, it merely ducked under a gap in the fence, made sure the coast was otherwise clear, trotted across the path not even ten feet away from me, and disappeared into the brush on the other side.
In case you haven’t recognized it yet, because its non-house-cat features are not obvious in this picture, this is only the second bobcat I’ve ever seen. Now how’s that for a Texas-sized sendoff?
If everything goes according to plan, I’ll catch my flight home early Monday morning and arrive back in Milwaukee before this post goes live, early in the afternoon. I should be back in Estabrook Park Tuesday morning to resume our regularly scheduled programming.
Signs of Life in Estabrook Park 