John Kirk
On March 9, four members of the Birding Interest Group along with four guests of Robson families made a birding trip to Forest Lake Park and later to South Lake Park. We saw and heard 28 different species of birds at Forest Lake. The highlight birds were ten yellow-rump warblers, ruby-crown and golden-crown kinglets and a single little ruddy duck. We took a leisurely 1.2 mile walk in the woods and down to the lake in an hour and a half. Later we went over to South Lake Park hoping to see some more ducks. We were not disappointed as we saw mallards, lesser scaup, ring-necks, wigeons, a shoveler and a pied-billed grebe. All in all, we saw 14 different bird species in a span of 30 minutes.
As we are now in the change of seasons, new birds are showing up in the Denton area every day. The advanced group of purple martins have been around going from martin house to house for about two weeks. A few of the messy barn swallows have also been seen on the Ranch. Yesterday, March 23, the first scissor-tailed flycatcher and western kingbirds were reported. All of these birds are insect eaters and don’t arrive until the weather is warm enough to provide meals of insects. Two hummingbirds have also been seen on the Ranch so it is time to start filling the feeders for them. We have mostly ruby-throat hummingbirds here but it is also not too uncommon to see Black-chinned hummingbirds particularly in the early spring.
The Birding Interest Group is open to all residents of the Ranch. The group of over 50 is comprised of backyard bird feeders and folks who like to go out to see birds in the Denton area. All levels of expertise are welcome. On the Ranch over the last year at least 100 different bird species have been seen. We have a list of all the birds that have been seen at the Ranch as well as a listing of many of the local locations for birding. The bird list gives the season of the year and frequency for our birds. The list of locations tells directions, possible fee and toilet accommodations.
As the weather is getting nicer, we will be going out almost weekly. We maintain an email list of folks interested in birds and send out notification of the birding trip. If you would like to join our email list, send an email to [email protected].