So, I know it's been FOREVER, but here it goes....

So, life has been a little crazy. I graduated last August, got a job, and moved into a new apartment.  Now that things have settled down, I'm finally birding a little more.  Last weekend, I went on a walk at White Rock Lake and this weekend I went on a field to the John Bunker Wetlands Center.  I've been trying to go on guided walks since I'm so bad at identifying the bird calls on my own. I've also discovered that I'm horrible at using my binoculars. I'll see a bird and then try to look through my binoculars....completely lost! Next week, there aren't any schedules walks or field trips planned...I'm all on my own! Wish me luck! I'm still not sure where I'll go. 

The WRL trip was good. I saw several types of ducks that I had never seen.  I wrote down a list, but now I can't find it...I'll update later. The John Bunker Wetlands Center is really amazing.  It was built to naturally filter the water from the Trinity River which then goes into Lake Lavon.  Sadly, it's not open to the public for birding.  The majority of the day we were looking for rails...a type of bird that I had never even heard of before.   We lucked out and did see one King Rail!  I also saw a Bald Eagle and American Bittern, both of which I had never seen before.  There were also several types of ducks (shovelers, grebes, blue-winged teals, etc.), but we didn't stop the cars for those, so I didn't get any photos.   At the end, we saw several types of sandpipers, but it's pretty much imposssible for me to tell the difference at this point.  I really need to study up on my shorebirds! 

Here are a few photos from my trips:

American Bittern at John Bunker Wetlands Center

Tree Swallows at John Bunker Sands Wetlands Center

Bald Eagle at John Bunker Sands Wetlands Center

Black-necked Stilt at John Bunker Sands Wetlands Center



Killdeer at John Bunker Sands Wetlands Center



King Rail at John Bunker Sands Wetlands Center

Great Blue Heron at White Rock Lake



Double-crested Cormorant at White Rock Lake



Finally, a new photo!

Last night, we saw three owls flying around in our yard.  I sat outside tonight and finally got this shot.  Sadly, not the best photo quality.  I'm assuming it's a juvenile Eastern Screech Owl, but I'm not 100% sure.  Hopefully, they will be back tomorrow night and I can get a better shot.  I also want to report that we have a Carolina Wren nesting on our back porch.  There are three eggs in the nest and I can't wait to snap some photos of the chicks when the hatch!

The Rookery

So, I finally went on my first birding field trip yesterday.  I had a great time and met lots of great people.  We went to The Rookery in Dallas.  You can learn more about the rookery here.  Eight different birds nest there and I actually got a photo of each one!

I didn't get a good photo of an Anhinga, but I did get this one in flight.

We saw great Great Egrets.

Snowy Egrets

Tricolored herons (and their babies)

Black-Crowned Night-Herons (and their babies)

Cattle Egrets

White Ibises (not sure on plural form)

Little Blue Herons

Here are some photos of the rookery from the UTSW parking garage.  I go to school nearby and can't believe this was literally right next door!

In the parking lot, I saw this little guy flying back and forth from a nest in a tree by my car.  I later found out that he/she is a Western Kingbird.  There were two of them flying around the top of the tree.

No new photos.

Although I've seen many birds lately, I haven't gotten any new photos.  Hopefully, I'll get some good ones this weekend when I'm at The Rookery!  Although I didn't have a camera, I did see a new bird today.  When I was at UTD, I saw what I'm pretty sure was a green heron. I don't know how common they are, but it was new to me, so I got excited!

Bitty-1, Bunny 0 :(

As I mentioned in a previous post, we had a baby bunny living in our yard.  This is nothing new, but he was right next to the house and hanging out in the flower beds so I had gotten attached to the little guy. I should have known his days were numbered.  Yesterday morning, I was drinking my coffee and heard a noise outside the window.  I assumed it was one of our dogs raiding the bird feeders.  They sometimes like to steal baked goods out of the feeder (but don't worry, they never go after the birds).  However, when I looked out the window, she had the baby bunny. Once again, nothing new for our house. Food chain...nature...I accept it. But this was MY bunny. I went outside and started yelling at her, but she would not drop it.  I touched the little feet and it didn't move so I thought it was dead and went back inside. I then looked outside and saw Bitty drop the bunny. It jumped off and she went after it again. I went back outside, dragged the dog onto the patio and found the rabbit in the garage. I scooped it up, but it had a hole on its side and some of its intestines were visible. I put it back in the yard, thinking it should die in its home. But when I looked outside it was still hopping around. I was too afraid it would go off somewhere and the dogs would find it again and terrorize it some more. Since it was being active, I was also afraid it would die a slow death and be eaten by ants. I went back outside and caught it again. I called a wildlife rehabilitator and she told me to call animal control. Since I live outside city limits, I just went ahead and drove it there myself. I knew the bunny was beyond saving, but they told me they would euthanize it so it wouldn't suffer any longer. I know most people would have just let the dog take care of it, but I just couldn't. I can't help it.  I just love animals too much.  I'm still kind of sad about it.

Arbor Hills

On Sunday, my boyfriend and I hiked the bike trail at Arbor Hill Nature Preserve.  Unfortunately, I did not get any new photos.  We saw lots of cardinals and mockingbirds.  I heard a few new bird calls, but had no idea what they were and never saw the birds.  By the river/creek, we did see what we think was a Little Blue Heron, but we didn't spot him until he was flying off.  Hopefully, we'll have better luck in the future. Next time, we'll try one of the paved trails....I've decided this city girl needs to acclimate herself to nature before taking on the bike trail again!  I also need to find some guided bird walks.  Birding is pretty hard when you don't know where to look and can't recognize the bird calls.  At this point, the only call I can reliably identify is the Northern Cardinal.

Carolina Chickadee

I finally got a shot of a Carolina Chickadee.  It's not the best photo...he was too far away and kept flitting  around.  I also got a better picture of a cardinal than the one I got yesterday.  And I have no idea why, but that turtle is still in our yard.  He's probably been hanging around about a week, which is weird since we don't have any ponds.  There is a pond close to our house, so I assume that is where he/she came from.