It's Been An Uneasy Stay For The Visiting Waterfowl.

We had record rains for three months this past year. This year started out with two floods at the lake that displaced the logs that the pelicans like to hang out upon. The high water levels have also brought in shifting sandbars that split Sunset Bay into another world for the Coots and Ducks, Cormorants and seagulls. It became readily visible to those of us that visit the lake almost on a daily schedule that the pelicans were uneasy and were seen in areas of the lake where they normally do not go. Pelicans up White Rock Creek beyond Flag Pole Hill on Goforth is not a good place for them. Especially if they roost that far up. The Cormorants are up in the trees there because their big log was dislodged by the high water levels and floated down  the lake shore several hundred feet.  But pelicans roost on the ground and bob cats and coyotes do feast upon waterfowl as we all know.

And, if that is not enough, there are more kayaks on the lake. More fishing boats. More motor boats for the sailing clubs and the rowing clubs. Even beyond that, there have been drownings there this year and just today, a father and son participating in a sailing event capsized and needed a high water rescue because of the thermal factors with colder than normal water. And some humans just can't get it into their heads that the birds notice things like that more than we give them credit..

Last year the number of mallards that were seen with their young broods was down to only a couple of pairs of mallards. Even the old gal on the east side of the lake that usually raises 8-10 ducklings, when seen, only had 5. It's almost a give me that the happy balance will always be in favor of people before it is wildlife in a dense urban setting. I know this. I  can accept this with reservations, but that is why there are state wild life preserves where the game wardens protect wildlife more than in city parks.  It isn't something that I enjoy agreeing with, of course, but the realization is that we are lucky to have such a vast diversity of wildlife so close to the heart of the city. Still, it behooves all of us to keep an eye more in tune to the nature that is around us and to have parks and lakes like White Rock where we can come and enjoy the wild as it was once upon a time. 

A little treasure for the  birders at the lake.

This old guy has one of the big old style bands on his leg. There were some with the newer wing bangs this year but they have already taken flight back north for breeding season. The big snow storms that are still coming down up there will not last long now.

Here is one of the washed up sandbars that runs for many, many yards in an arch around Sunset Bay

Buzzed By A Buzzard!

Well, a lot of thing have haven't to me over the years, but nothing like what happened this afternoon. I was sitting at  a picnic table down from the Mockingbird bridge on the south side of the foot bridge watching the seagulls, cormorants, and pelicans drift on the water's currents. There was a strong breeze and the seagulls were having a hard time landing on the water. Even the masters, the pelicans, were having a rough time of it landing.

A pair of pigeons came flying over almost as soon as I sat down. One of the pigeons walked right up to me. I do talk to the birds and the squirrels---animals in general---and they are responsive so at least I can get a fairly good close-up shot. While all of this is happening, I'm also watching above Mockingbird Lane toward the woodlands along White Rock Creek for any of the vultures (buzzards). There are six that hang out there and I have some pretty good shots of them on light poles and even on the ground eating in a couple of locations. Then, almost on cue, I see one riding the thermals. But where are the other five? Turning back to a pelican coming in for a landing low to the water (less wind resistance) as he just drops and flop on the water, tilting forward as he comes to a stop.

About the same time, I hear an unusual sound overhead. Being an aviation buff, you learn to recognize the sound of various airplane engines, but because this one sounded different, I looked up. Forget the airplane---there are the other other five buzzards riding thermals over the lake. Without warning, out of the corner of my eye, I see this big black bird with  huge wing spans come sailing inland no more than three or four feet from me at eye level. I grabbed my camera and starting snapping images without thought of technique or anything else. All I wanted was to get some shots of what was happening at the moment. I watched the big bird sail across the road where he was diving into the tall prairie grasses, coming up, circling and doing it all over again. He must have seen a rat or rabbit or snake (one was seen crawling on the roadway a couple of days ago). Then, as if nothing ever happened, he is back over Mockingbird Lane riding the thermals again.

After sitting there for a while and thinking about what had just happened, the darn bird had buzzed me. So I was buzzed by a buzzard!! That's never happen before. It was a first.

The buzzard buzzing

He's after something in the grass.

Rough landing on a windy day.

My dude, the Pigeon!

Remote Publish #2: Just Birds---The Feathered Kind

Black ring bill seagull

Double crested cormorants

Cormorants have no oil in their wing feathers so that they can dive. They need to dry the feathers afterwards.

A Perfect Fall Day

Sharing a log with the turtles.

Maybe a few berries before a fish dinner.

Hanging out to dry.

This area is called Cormorant Cove for obvious reasons. They are messy birds, however. The Parks Department will power wash the trails several times while they are here on their migration.

Sweeping Up The Dust

Well, this morning, we were able to call the remodeling of the website complete and while we are still sweeping up a bit of dust and picking up a few scraps and leftovers here and there, our main website has been published and is up and running.

We found a bunch of things that really needed revamping where codes had become corrupt by hook, crook or default. We cleaned up the last one of those this morning. Been so busy, the second cup of coffee is still in the coffeepot!

We don't do encryption because when you link to the sites that handle ordering information, they are secure sites already. You can always tell by the little padlock and the http {S}  If we sold directly from our site, "yes, by all means we would be encrypted" . We don't ask for your credit card info or your social security or anything like that. That is the main reason for encryption in the first place. The shadowy stuff, we want no part of anyway, so we keep the site open. It is prowled by a company that searches for our images that have been hijacked from our site. If they find one of our images that have not been licensed by us or by our agents, then they will be knocking to collect the license fee. If you use an image that we licensed through our agent or any of the stock houses we use, you already have that license and we know what image we have licensed. So..... subscribing to the the old theory, "keep it simple, stupid" we do!

We sincerely hope that you enjoy reading our blog and our little dry humor here and there. Yes, we will ruffle a feather or two now and then. Look at our latest image on the blog about the Love Birds--Hawk Style and even the hawks feathers were ruffled. Imagine being those hawks and having 100 photographers pointing a camera at you all day. By days end, you would have some ruffled feathers,too, and not just from the wind.

This month has been our best month for readership ever. We are pleased about that. We hope we have made a few smiles, provided you with a look at nature in the Dallas Metroplex as well as keeping up with some new buildings or sights or transportation changes. Since we started our site and reflecting back on old images, many of the things we photographed are not even there anymore. The biggest example is, of course, Texas Stadium, the previous home of the Cowboys. More subtle things have changed such as the relocation of the Union Pacific Big Boy to Frisco from Fair Park and Reunion Arena that was used to house those displaced by Hurricane Katrina. Time moves on and photography captures the past. It makes history visually which stirs emotions both good and bad. It enhances the mind and it quenches the human need and want for more.

So, until next year or the need to revamp the site again. You can revisit the navigation and learn how it can take you to our other sites if you want to expand you viewing pleasures. At the beginning of this year, we have over 3,000 images accessible from our main website. Our image totals per week are running right at 1,000 images. Obviously, not all of them make it to the web .Currently, that's about 0.07 percent after edits for one reason or another. Sometimes, we accidentally shot the ground if our bag hits the sh

346-1F119841 White Egrets

346-1F119822 Cormorants

utter button. Yes, that counts in the annual total of 51,078. But we have fun!! That's the main thing when you peers like David Bowie begin to appear in the daily obit columns. Of if you see us out and about and you think we are mad or grumpy or irritating.....perception on your part might be totally wrong.  We certainly hope you can find both joy and enjoyment on our site. We do this for you, or readers!