Days 13 HO HUM Day and Day 14 - Birding at Lewisville Lake Environmental Center
Friday, Norm and I jus ran some errands in the afternoon. It was 19 degrees and beautiful out side. It was HO HUM day.
This morning, Saturday I joined the Fort Worth Audubon birders for am outing to Lewisville Lake Environmental Learning Centre just north of the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport. It was about 45 minutes away at 6:45 am on a Saturday. A very nice gent who was coming from south of Fort Worth and had offered to car pool from FW picked me up. We connected when the trip final notice came out. I was good to drive but he used to live in that area and said he would drive. So we drove in his car to LLELC for the meet-up time. So there were no worries about getting lost. I had visited this place on my own last year after it was suggested to me by some Audubon Birders.
The day was cool and there was a wind probably from the lake. I had my light top and scarf and my down vest on and I could have used a fleece but I had forgotten to pack a fleece on this trip. We did several trails in the morning and we did have some nice birds. Both Kinglets, Orange-crowned Warbler, many Yellow-rumped Warblers, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, about 11 American White Pelicans and a good assortment of ducks. The trail was surprisingly pretty dry after all the rain the area had received in October.
We viewed the ducks from a duck blind but they were not up close but most were on the other side of the large pond/march. The lovely Marsh I had been on last year with is further in was still flooded, so we did not go there.
I kept looking for Scissor-tailed Flycatchers here as I had seen them along this road last year and up close too. But I had no luck this time. One of the Audubon fellows had told me the Scissor-tailed Flycatchers we saw a week when we drove across the state line were the last of them for the year and they would be gone this week and it sure looks this is correct.
I asked today's leader about the possibility of a Bobwhite here and he said it was always possible but they had not been seen in this area for years for various reasons. So no luck there.
We did see some mushrooms and I took a photo. I did not pack my big lense on this trip as I did not think I would have to have an opportunity to bird. But now I have had four birding outings on this trip so far. I don't have any bird photos of any moving birds. The little camera that I took, is just an exercise in frustration. Nothing turns out in focus, if one zooms in with the 60 times zoom. One can see the photo in focus but the camera then never stays in focus with this automatic zoom..
The group today also spotted a duck box that was taken over by honey bees and the hive was so successful the honey combs filled the box and there were honey combs built right beneath the box also. So I took a photo of that and it is here also.
So we had a lovely 7 am to 12:30 pm birding outing and then some of us went out for lunch. Again I had birded with several birders that I met last year on Audubon outings and that was really nice. This has happened to be each time I have gone birding here on this trip. I guess I must have gone out to all the Audubon outings last year when I was here and met enough people several times. The club people are very gracious and welcoming here.
When I got back home, it was time for routine stuff and then the kids went out for supper and we took care of Lu which was fun. He had a long nap today and so probably caught up on any missing sleep. After supper we did a Christmas ornament craft and then read some books. We did some art and soon enough Mom and Dad were home.
The house is quiet now, everyone went to bed fairly early this evening and I am fading from the early start this morning. The afternoon was warm and sunny and over 20 degrees today. I heard from friends back home that we had our first snowstorm of the season yesterday and there was lots of snow. Yikes, we will be heading back to the land of ice and snow soon enough. Hopefully we will have good weather and dry pavement to get home.
This morning, Saturday I joined the Fort Worth Audubon birders for am outing to Lewisville Lake Environmental Learning Centre just north of the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport. It was about 45 minutes away at 6:45 am on a Saturday. A very nice gent who was coming from south of Fort Worth and had offered to car pool from FW picked me up. We connected when the trip final notice came out. I was good to drive but he used to live in that area and said he would drive. So we drove in his car to LLELC for the meet-up time. So there were no worries about getting lost. I had visited this place on my own last year after it was suggested to me by some Audubon Birders.
The day was cool and there was a wind probably from the lake. I had my light top and scarf and my down vest on and I could have used a fleece but I had forgotten to pack a fleece on this trip. We did several trails in the morning and we did have some nice birds. Both Kinglets, Orange-crowned Warbler, many Yellow-rumped Warblers, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, about 11 American White Pelicans and a good assortment of ducks. The trail was surprisingly pretty dry after all the rain the area had received in October.
We viewed the ducks from a duck blind but they were not up close but most were on the other side of the large pond/march. The lovely Marsh I had been on last year with is further in was still flooded, so we did not go there.
I kept looking for Scissor-tailed Flycatchers here as I had seen them along this road last year and up close too. But I had no luck this time. One of the Audubon fellows had told me the Scissor-tailed Flycatchers we saw a week when we drove across the state line were the last of them for the year and they would be gone this week and it sure looks this is correct.
I asked today's leader about the possibility of a Bobwhite here and he said it was always possible but they had not been seen in this area for years for various reasons. So no luck there.
We did see some mushrooms and I took a photo. I did not pack my big lense on this trip as I did not think I would have to have an opportunity to bird. But now I have had four birding outings on this trip so far. I don't have any bird photos of any moving birds. The little camera that I took, is just an exercise in frustration. Nothing turns out in focus, if one zooms in with the 60 times zoom. One can see the photo in focus but the camera then never stays in focus with this automatic zoom..
The group today also spotted a duck box that was taken over by honey bees and the hive was so successful the honey combs filled the box and there were honey combs built right beneath the box also. So I took a photo of that and it is here also.
So we had a lovely 7 am to 12:30 pm birding outing and then some of us went out for lunch. Again I had birded with several birders that I met last year on Audubon outings and that was really nice. This has happened to be each time I have gone birding here on this trip. I guess I must have gone out to all the Audubon outings last year when I was here and met enough people several times. The club people are very gracious and welcoming here.
When I got back home, it was time for routine stuff and then the kids went out for supper and we took care of Lu which was fun. He had a long nap today and so probably caught up on any missing sleep. After supper we did a Christmas ornament craft and then read some books. We did some art and soon enough Mom and Dad were home.
The house is quiet now, everyone went to bed fairly early this evening and I am fading from the early start this morning. The afternoon was warm and sunny and over 20 degrees today. I heard from friends back home that we had our first snowstorm of the season yesterday and there was lots of snow. Yikes, we will be heading back to the land of ice and snow soon enough. Hopefully we will have good weather and dry pavement to get home.
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