The Bald Eagle
John Kirk
We are again at a change in the birding season. Many of our winter bird visitors are departing for the north country of the U.S. or Canada. The number of yellow-rump warblers is decreasing daily as I make my morning walk down Michelle Way to the garden plots. The yellow-rumps that are still around are beginning to show their beautiful breeding colors. Also leaving are the White-throat and white-crown sparrows, robins and cedar waxwings. Away from the Ranch the ducks (redheads, ring-necks, wigeons, pintails and gadwalls) are also heading north.
Now we can begin to watch for the first scissor-tailed flycatchers, lark sparrows, white-wing dove and hummingbirds. Ranchers with purple martin houses are getting excited to see the first scouts returning from South America. At the time of the writing a few martins have been seen in McKinney and Fort Worth. I am putting up a martin house for the first time this year so I hope that more will return than left and will be looking for new homes. I hope that people on the Ranch who have Martin houses will let me know when they have their first arrivals.
To date in 2017, 47 different birds have been seen on the Ranch. As we move into spring the number of birds will increase quickly. Several members of our group have gone out birding this year. We have visited Lake Lewisville at the Learning Center, Lake Ray Roberts at Isle du Bois State Park, the Green Heron trail at Trophy Club and Lake Forest Park off of Ryan Road. Interested group members on the email list will be notified about future birding trips.
All interested people are encouraged to join the group and enjoy the birding trips.