Wildlife Images are interesting in urban nature settings.

                                   I still have to pinch myself that I caught this capture a few years back, like pre-Covid days. I found the chip still in my old Nikon camera the other day, much to my surprise. It says a lot about the battles the animal kingdoms deal with. Here the hummingbird is protecting his nectar source from a bumble bee that was trying hard to drive the hummer away. Luckily, I was focusing on the shot when the hummer did an about face and pretty much told the bee that he would be speared with that beak if he tried it again. Combat awaits but never took place. However, it was a capture that I am proud to say that I took the shot.

                                   A Plano Coyote takes a leisure rest in a front yard.

Then, just day before yesterday as I am leaving the house, I saw a feral cat a couple of doors down chasing something in the tall grass from all the rain. Stopping, to see what was going on, the cat came up with a squirrel. It was lunch time. Had I stopped to unpack the camera, the shot would have been lost anyway. The cat was looking at me with the squirrel in his jaws. Had he felt threatened, he would have run. It was best that I just kept walking. What's the old Texas Poker phrase? "know when to hold 'em and when to fold 'em".

Lately, it just seems to me that seeing such things are on the rise. One, because of the stupendous growth in population of humans in Texas and two, the animals are loosing ground for native habitat. And just yesterday on the news, The Trinity non-profit that controls the land between the Maggie 1 and the Magge 2 bridges between the levees announced that the money is now in place to begin the long awaited park on the western edge of downtown. When it was announced during the building of each of the two bridges (Maggie 1 is the one arch and Maggie 2 is the double arch bridges that cross the Trinity River) there was a lots of excitement stirring. It seemed to fade a bit after a period of time, but things developed here and there that seemed to garner a bit of hope left that eventually the park would come to life as planned. Groundbreaking is set for this fall we are told. Oh! Maggie came about as a nick name for Margaret. Both the bridges are names after women with the first name Margaret Hunt Hill and Margaret McDermott. The single arch Hill bridge was first and the double arch McDermott was build second. Hence Maggie 1 and Maggie 2. It is an easy way to remember which one is which   being so close together. During the construction of the Maggie I, daily shots in the progress were made over the course of construction and are published through our agents. 

The wildlife scene changes a bit in this area with water fowl, but it is also on the migration route to the Great Trinity Forest, a 6,000 acre hardwood forest in Southeast Dallas. It also is the largest hardwood forest in the United States. Here, the bob cats, coyotes and other things seek safe harbor from all the growth driving them south as the Metroplex grows North into vast farmlands.

If Dart ever gets service out there, I would love to return to the Trinity River Audubon Center. It is a birders paradise. Also, the AT&T trail connects to the tail system. The last time I was there was when the PGA golf course was being constructed, from the AT&T trail, I got a shot of the #5 flag on the green. When it opened, one year of the Byron Nelson was held there after leaving Cottonwood in Irving and before moving North, closer to the new PGA headquarters and new courses.

                    Yes, even these little creatures are having a bad time with urban sprawl.

    One thing about the Monk Parrots is that their colonies in the Urban Scene are growing.