Thursday's Bird Watch!

 

Occasionally I am asked here at Dallas Retirement Village, "What kind of doves do we hear here calling all the time". The answer is that they are Eurasian Collared-Doves, a non-native species.  Eurasian Collared-Dove are much more common than our native Mourning Doves, in fact probably by 90%. One reason for their larger numbers is that they able to breed year-around, so it's possible for them to have 6 broods a year.  Also, the Eurasian Collared-Doves do well in urban settings, whereas the Mourning Doves prefer a more natural setting of field and woods.  This photo is of a pair of Eurasian Collared-Dove taken recently atop the roof above the Central Courtyard of The Lodge here at DRV. 
 

Thursday's Bird Watch

The Wild Turkeys are back!!! Saturday morning, Mary Ransier, affectionately known as "front desk Mary", reported seeing Wild Turkeys at Dallas Retirement Village. I got lucky and spotted them in the afternoon.  Ten turkeys in all, the one mother and seven juveniles shown here, plus two juveniles on the other side of the fence.  The deer in the background was accidently in the photo.  These are the first Wild Turkeys of this season. They will be hanging around here at Dallas Retirement Village through the winter until the middle of April when they always disappear to some hidden location to have their babies, and then once again in July a mother will be back with her new brood.

Mark O. Hatfield Park

We went to check-out Dallas' newest city park, Mark O. Hatfield Park this afternoon.  It was just dedicated last Wednesday, and in my research, I found that it was formerly known as Birch Street Park. It's a small park with a lot of playground equipment, so we did not have very high hopes for a birding location.  We were pleasantly surprised, and even with a very short visit we had 10 different species of birds. Here is our bird list. Another surprise is we found a half dozen comfortable and conveniently located benches.  This is definitely a winner, and we will be returning.

 

Thursday's Bird Watch

The busiest place to see birds at Dallas Retirement Village is in the Central Courtyard of The Lodge.  We have had nesting going on of Anna's Hummingbirds, Dark-eyed Juncos, European Starling, Eurasian Collared-doves, Violet-green Swallows, and now, White-crowned Sparrows.  This is by far the most successful year we have ever had, and the most vocal of all these birds is the White-crowned Sparrow, show here.  His high-pitched trill puts a smile on my face daily.  This is actually the first year for them to nest in the Central Courtyard. In past years they have nested in the rose bushes at the East-end of The Lodge around the Jasper Street Entrance.  Take a stroll through the Central Courtyard some time and enjoy the sights and sounds.
 

Thursday's Bird Watch!

 In taking a short bird walk here at Dallas Retirement Village on Sunday June 29th, Jeanett and I noticed some American Crows making a lot of noise.  I have learned over the years that when crows are making a fuss about something it's a good idea to take a closer look at what is going on. That is when we found this Cooper's Hawk seeking sanctuary in a small tree outside the Village Apartments. The American Crows had good reason to be concerned with the Cooper's Hawk because Cooper's Hawks main diet is other birds! The next time you hear some crows making a big commotion, take a closer look, you might be in for a surprise. 

Mt. Fir Park

Jeanette on the path along the South Fork of Ash Creek

On the 4th of July, Jeanette and I ventured out to Mt. Fir Park in Independence for a bird walk. For the previous couple of days, I had been taking short walks without the aid of my walker. Mt Fir Park provided the opportunity to go birding on a path along the creek that had not been practicable to use with my walker. It was great to have a fresh sense of freedom as we worked our way along the path beside the South Fork of Ash Creek.

It seemed to be our lucky day for birds. There were an unusually high number of birds along the creek, and then we realized that they were newly fledged Barn Swallows. The same thing for Violet-green Swallows, Black-capped Chickadees, and Bushtits.  All four had just recently fledged, and the young birds were trying to figure out how to navigate the brushy habitat of the creek. Here is our eBird checklist.

Barn Swallow fledgling