Winter brings a wide variety of wildlife to this area and it is my favorite time of year to be outside. I filmed a lot of wildlife (over 70 species) between mid November and late January and I have five videos to share. These were shot at different locations and are compilations of short clips – all of the wildlife is labeled.

The first video was filmed in our back yard in Farmers Branch. We usually see a number of visitors over the Winter as well as the year-round residents. A new bird feeder pole has proved to be successful due to the variety of food we now offer, and the fact it has a squirrel baffle!

We first visited Lewisville Lake Environmental Learning Area at the end of January last year and it is now our favorite place to look for wildlife. The Bittern Marsh Trail had been closed for a long time due to flooding so we enjoyed exploring that trail when it re-opened recently.

Pelicans and Osprey were at the top of the list of wildlife I wanted to catch on video but our Winter visits also provided some pleasant surprises.

We visit local parks in Farmers Branch most weekends and are often surprised at the variety of wildlife we can see there. Winter always brings migratory waterfowl to the creeks and ponds and we were pleased to see some other species we had never encountered there before.

We found ourselves running an errand in Lewisville on Christmas Eve. As we drove past Railroad Park and the nearby landfill site we noticed a great number of birds there. We stopped as we had the cameras in the car and filmed what we saw – a great example of wildlife thriving in an urban environment.

The final video was filmed at Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge. We made two trips there this Winter. The first was in late November and the mist rolled in shortly after we arrived in the early morning. These conditions were not ideal for photography but it did make for some atmospheric video.

The second trip was at the end of January and the weather was very different – cold in the morning, much warmer in the afternoon, and bright skies all day. The visiting Geese were active (one or two of them make an appearance in this video!). We knew that Bald Eagles had been observed at Hagerman so we went to the location where they had been spotted – many thanks to Phil Plank who met us there and took the photo that appears in this video.

Links

Lewisville Lake Environmental Learning Area – http://www.llela.org/

Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge – https://www.fws.gov/refuge/hagerman/

2 Replies to “Winter Wildlife Videos”

  1. So that’s what a Tufted Titmouse looks like. Just kidding. I thought they were well put together videos. Great job Richard.

  2. Fantastic videos as always! Loved the Hagerman video….I thought there were a lot when I went a few months ago. Clearly they were just arriving. So impressive! Thank you for capturing such lovely moments for us all to enjoy

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