Baby Killdeer

Yesterday I had to go out to the Clinics of North Texas on Midwestern Parkway. Not the best way to start the day, but as I was getting out of the car, there were two parent killdeer herding a group of 4 babies along the edge of the parking lot. The little ones were trying to get up the curb into the grass with their parents and the parents were calling continuously to encourage them.

I saw one get up before I had to go into the clinic; when I came out 20 min later, all were gone.

I love baby killdeer--they are the cutest things. They look like a colorful cotton ball sitting on top of the thinnest legs imaginable.

Sibley Nature Center E-Newsletter

I finally got around to looking at my May issue of El Despoblado and noted they picked up one of Bob Lindsay's blog entries. Bob is the Executive Director at Wild Bird Rescue and his entries about the nesting killdeer were some of my favorites as well.

Congratulations, Bob!

El Despoblado is published by the Sibley Nature Center is full of articles and pictures by local people on the flora and fauna of West Texas and eastern New Mexico. You can sign up for the newsletter on their website.

Good birding!

Recycling the Neighborhood

Out near the Lake Wichita Spillway there is an overpass that houses a lot of pigeons underneath year around and in the summer, hundreds of cliff swallows along the outside, under the overhang of the road. The cliff swallows have headed south, abandoning their nests for the year. As soon as the cliff swallows leave, the house sparrows move in. Last winter, almost every nest had house sparrows. So far this year, it appears to be about half. I am sure the nests provide better shelter than most of the places the house sparrows nested. The openings point down, which would keep the rain off and help make the shelter less accessible to predators. However, I do note that it appears the house sparrows gravitate toward nests that have some damage (and therefore, a wider opening)--at least at first.

I originally intended to check out the tank to see if any ducks were coming yet, but youth football season has started and the park was packed, so I headed toward the spillway. In a short walk along the biking/walking trail between the spillway and Southwest Parkway, I saw a great blue heron, American phoebe, killdeer, blue jays, mourning dove, Eurasian collared dove, white-winged dove, starlings, barn swallows, chimney swifts, pigeons, house sparrows, red-winged blackbirds, and an immature red-bellied woodpecker. There was also an Empodonax flycatcher I was unable to clearly identify. As usual. I also heard a belted kingfisher, but did not find him. So nothing spectacular, but the weather was beautiful and since I only had 45 minutes to spend before I had to get back to Wild Bird Rescue, it was good.

Later in the morning, I did see a green heron at Wild Bird Rescue.