Tuesday February 26, 2019 - Colleyville Nature Centre birding.
The temperature this morning was 11 degrees when I woke up and it was an overcast day with some sunny periods. It was really comfortable. I still went out with a scarf, I always do and I wore my vest also.
After taking Darla for a walk and then Lu to school I stopped at Mac Donald's for a coffee. Here are just some of the flowers at Lu's Montessori, this morning. The children planted them last fall.
Off I went to Colleyville today which is about 20 miles away and about a 45 minute drive. I had no problem finding the parking lot. I met a lady walking right away and she was very kind and showed me the Barred Owl up in a tree and took me to Janet's feeder's a long ways down the trails. I thanked her and she continued on her way and made sure I knew how to get back. She was not a birder but a walker and showed me some of photos on her phone of a Bobcat on the trails. This park is a sort of linear park with I think the sign said 9 ponds.
At the feeders there were American Goldfinches, Dark eyed Juncos, a Yellow bellied Sapsucker, a Verdin, one of my favourite birds, and several Purple Finches. There was also a Red shouldered Hawk sitting about 50 feet away. Apparently this was half of a couple of Red shouldered Hawks. They nest in a certain tree each year. Later the second one of the pair showed up. In the ponds there were Northern Shovelers, American Wigeon and Mallards. I stayed there for a while because there was so much activity, including a Baltimore Oriole. In the trees along the shore there was a Yellow rumped Warbler and an Eastern Bluebird. It was pretty different spot to see Eastern Bluebird and there was more than one.
I saw a tree in white blossoms that was really pretty and I did a selfie. Out of nowhere, this demon dog (a big one) comes running at me. It was off leash and crazy. The lady was walking way back and had this big dog and a smaller dog off leash. The dog lunged at my back (I turned my back to the dog when I saw what was coming as I did not want to make eye contact but it jumped at my back and tried to nip me but missed. I think it could smell my fear. I love dogs but this one looked crazed. The lady went by and said that it was just saying hello. A fellow walking his own dog some distance away, a Corgi yelled at her to get the dog on leash. I could not see this but I assume she did get her big dog on leash then. If you asked me what colour the dog was I could not tell you. I think it was dark and like a lab, pit bull cross with a muscled body. All I saw was the big mouth and the bared teeth. Yikes!!! I spoke with the fellow who had yelled at the lady when when we met up further on the trail a bit. He said he saw me and asked if the dog nipped me, nope! it missed. Further on the trail, the lady who I met at the start, her husband, was out for his walk. He walked by the same dog (who was on the leash at that point) and the dog nipped him on the hand. We talked with him just after and his hand was not grazed but it was bruising. So I suggested he put some alcohol on it when he got home just to clean the skin. The nip did not break the skin on his hand but may have scraped the top layer, it was red and underneath it was bruising.. He was lucky as he said he was on blood thinners and would have had a hard time then. He was an older, very nice gent. So I was lucky with the dog but this fellow was not so lucky.
I continued to bird and walked slowly down the trails and I saw a Hermit Thrush in the brush and there were many White throated Sparrow searching through the leaf litter on the forest floor. I got back to my car and there I ended up meeting the lady whose feeders I visited. She was very gracious and I told her about the Verdin and she said she would review her photos that she had taken of the birds at her feeders. I don't have a camera with me, and there were many opportunities for photos today. Next time! I made it home by 4:30 pm. It was a good day and I had 35 species. I plan to go back to this place when I come back in early April during migration.
I think I got some good walking in today.
After taking Darla for a walk and then Lu to school I stopped at Mac Donald's for a coffee. Here are just some of the flowers at Lu's Montessori, this morning. The children planted them last fall.
Off I went to Colleyville today which is about 20 miles away and about a 45 minute drive. I had no problem finding the parking lot. I met a lady walking right away and she was very kind and showed me the Barred Owl up in a tree and took me to Janet's feeder's a long ways down the trails. I thanked her and she continued on her way and made sure I knew how to get back. She was not a birder but a walker and showed me some of photos on her phone of a Bobcat on the trails. This park is a sort of linear park with I think the sign said 9 ponds.
At the feeders there were American Goldfinches, Dark eyed Juncos, a Yellow bellied Sapsucker, a Verdin, one of my favourite birds, and several Purple Finches. There was also a Red shouldered Hawk sitting about 50 feet away. Apparently this was half of a couple of Red shouldered Hawks. They nest in a certain tree each year. Later the second one of the pair showed up. In the ponds there were Northern Shovelers, American Wigeon and Mallards. I stayed there for a while because there was so much activity, including a Baltimore Oriole. In the trees along the shore there was a Yellow rumped Warbler and an Eastern Bluebird. It was pretty different spot to see Eastern Bluebird and there was more than one.
I saw a tree in white blossoms that was really pretty and I did a selfie. Out of nowhere, this demon dog (a big one) comes running at me. It was off leash and crazy. The lady was walking way back and had this big dog and a smaller dog off leash. The dog lunged at my back (I turned my back to the dog when I saw what was coming as I did not want to make eye contact but it jumped at my back and tried to nip me but missed. I think it could smell my fear. I love dogs but this one looked crazed. The lady went by and said that it was just saying hello. A fellow walking his own dog some distance away, a Corgi yelled at her to get the dog on leash. I could not see this but I assume she did get her big dog on leash then. If you asked me what colour the dog was I could not tell you. I think it was dark and like a lab, pit bull cross with a muscled body. All I saw was the big mouth and the bared teeth. Yikes!!! I spoke with the fellow who had yelled at the lady when when we met up further on the trail a bit. He said he saw me and asked if the dog nipped me, nope! it missed. Further on the trail, the lady who I met at the start, her husband, was out for his walk. He walked by the same dog (who was on the leash at that point) and the dog nipped him on the hand. We talked with him just after and his hand was not grazed but it was bruising. So I suggested he put some alcohol on it when he got home just to clean the skin. The nip did not break the skin on his hand but may have scraped the top layer, it was red and underneath it was bruising.. He was lucky as he said he was on blood thinners and would have had a hard time then. He was an older, very nice gent. So I was lucky with the dog but this fellow was not so lucky.
I continued to bird and walked slowly down the trails and I saw a Hermit Thrush in the brush and there were many White throated Sparrow searching through the leaf litter on the forest floor. I got back to my car and there I ended up meeting the lady whose feeders I visited. She was very gracious and I told her about the Verdin and she said she would review her photos that she had taken of the birds at her feeders. I don't have a camera with me, and there were many opportunities for photos today. Next time! I made it home by 4:30 pm. It was a good day and I had 35 species. I plan to go back to this place when I come back in early April during migration.
I think I got some good walking in today.
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