Riverview Park

 

Del Warren, a friend and fellow resident here at Dallas Retirement Village, explained to us that the birds were very plentiful when he was at the Riverview Park in Independence. We made it a point to stop by yesterday morning and give it a try.  Immediately on getting out of the care we were surrounded by bird songs, so many that our Merlin app had identified 10 species before we left the car.  It's easy to walk the path along the river and Jeanette was kept busy entering in our total species count of 37 on eBird in her iPhone. Here is the link to our eBird Checklist.

The best photo shot of the day was this Osprey male bringing a fish to his female on the nest. Notice the flat look to the front of the fish.  This is because of the normal practice of the male to eat the head off before bringing the fish to the female. This nest site is located next to the Independence Hotel, and it is easy to observe the nest from the Riverview Park parking lot. The exciting thing for birders is that there is a live camera on the nest.  We can watch it on your iPhone, tablet, and TV, but I think for the observation to count on eBird it needs to be in person rather than a screen shot.  We know there are three eggs in the nest, so this scene will be repeated many times in the days to come as the male brings his catch to the female on the nest.