No, This Blog Is Not Turning Into A Bird Blog.

Pelicans Seek New Spots

Today's outing generated two more images of birds at White Rock. It's nesting season--give me a break, please. From the trip today, the wrap around cloud cover of a very strong low-level low returned more clouds today, although, there were a few brief patches of blue sky about the size of a frying pan on a world scale. At one point there was one spot on the lake's surface seen from one of the high roads that lends a view of the entire length of the lake and a skyline view of downtown.That  spot of sunshine was absolutely amazing. At the time, I was driving from one of the broken section to the next and recall thinking that I should get a shot of that. When I got onto the second section of roadway, the spot was gone. It's like the old rule at Costco----when you see it you had better buy it because when you go back to get it, it's going to be gone. Well, I didn't get the shot and when I got to where I could shoot a better advantage point, the spot was gone. Hence, the Costco story in illustration.

To back up the story from yesterday about the pelicans being displaced and seen in spots where I have not observed them before, today, I found three that were on an inlet pretty far from the main shoreline of the lake. One, was even bathing, which means that they were pretty far into their daily routine and might even have spent the night there last night. While it may be interesting for the pelicans, it's not a good thing for the people who like seeing the ole pelicans in their normal spots.

And, while the weather will change from this below average temperatures we are having at the moment, shooting up to sunshine and 73 by Thursday when an Arctic air mass is heading this way and will give us 30 MPH north winds and 20 degree F temps driving the wind chill into the very low single digit to mid teens. Things like this can also cause a sudden movement in the migrating visitors that could change their home-away-from-home base as well. It is something that needs to be watched and monitored.

 I'm anxious to ride the new TexRAIL on it's 27-mile trip from T&P station in Ft. Worth to Terminal B at DFW Airport. The train got approved after a couple of days being  delayed because of the government shut-down and is now active, live, hot and rolling. Theoretically one could start at terminal A on DART's light rail and ride it into Union Station in Downtown Dallas, change to either Trinity Rail Express or Amtrak there and then riding it into T& P in Ft. Worth. Finally, change to TexRAIL and ride it into Terminal B at DFW, then walk from Terminal B to A or ride the airport's tram from terminal B to terminal A to complete the circle. That trip, would be more than the 27 miles from Ft. Worth into DFW Terminal B, but boy would it be fun for a train and plane geek!! Least we forget the Cotton Belt Train from Plano across the north sector of the city to DFW Airport Train Hub has been given the go ahead also. THEN!! grab hold of this!

If that isn't exciting enough, just wait. The bullet train from Houston to Dallas and then  Ft. Worth T&P is nearing the horizon for construction. The Tube from Dallas to Ft. Work from Elan Musk is also on that horizon to travel from Dallas to Ft.Worth in 7 minutes or so and of course, the Lyft or Uber Air Taxi from Bell Helicopter's films are just absolutely awesome with prototype models coming soon.  Transportation in the Metroplex is going to make George Jetson seem like he was riding a bicycle all those years ago. I might even still be able to draw a breath on this planet and see this all working---that's how close to completion all this is approaching. We are not talking years as in decades, but within a decade or sooner. It's time to Get Excited About Transportation in Dallas and Ft. Worth. The time is at hand and it's going to be another big shot in the arm like DFW was 40-odd years ago. So don't be caught sleeping behind the wheel or you might miss all the excitement.

Great Blue Heron

Red Shoulder Hawk Take Flight.