When disturbed, American Coots have an interesting way of putting distance between themselves and their antagonist—they walk on water. With furiously flapping wings, coots become just airborne enough to run across the surface of the water. Observation Details County – Dallas City – Seagoville Date – Apr 28, 2013 Time of Day – Midmorning Temperature
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NOTE: This is a followup to an earlier post: Monk Parakeet – Addison Back in October of 2012 I did a special project on Monk Parakeets in the Dallas/Fort Worth Area. I took a day and visited every Monk Parakeet colony I was aware of in the metroplex. Monk Parakeets are gregarious birds. They build
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This Virginia Opossum has made a serious miscalculation. Something inspired her to climb this tree in the middle of the famed UTSWMC heron rookery—a tree full egret nests! Was the opossum after eggs, or was she just fleeing from some perceived danger when she ascended the tree? Whatever the case, the birds were not pleased
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One afternoon while I was observing the far southeast Dallas County Bald Eagle nest, I was delighted to see a large flock of Snow Geese (mixed with Greater White-fronted Geese and Ross’s Geese) land near the holding ponds at the base of the hill. As more and more geese arrived the entire congregation began grazing
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We had an interesting River Otter sighting this past weekend. Like most I have experienced, this one was fleeting, with little chance for quality photographs because of intervening vegetation. But, the viewing was good, and the behavior was unusual enough to merit mention. We came across this River Otter deep in the woods. He was
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Coyotes make me laugh sometimes. They do not like to be caught flatfooted. In this case, I came across a Coyote in an open field in far south Dallas. The Coyote and I saw each other at roughly the same time. I reached for my camera, and the Coyote headed for the hills. Wild Coyotes
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We encountered a number of White-tailed Deer while exploring in the Trinity River Greenbelt Riverbend Preserve. All were found moving along the trails on top of the levy. The deer were spending their time causally browsing in the tall grass, and did not seem overly concerned about our presence. When we would get a little
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This handsome Coyote was observed at the Village Creek Drying Beds in Arlington, Texas. The Coyote saw me first and was beginning to flee when I finally spotted him. He had been hiding in the tall grass beside this pond when I arrived. He clearly wanted to put some distance between us, but his flight
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I was able to photograph a couple of deer in person this past weekend at Old Alton Bridge Park. No Scouting Cameras required this time. The sighting occurred as I was walking along the Elm Fork Trail. I was following a part of the trail that runs parallel to to an open cow pasture—private property.
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A Turkey Vulture near a dog carcass in far southeast Dallas County. The vulture fled as we approached. Observations Details County – Dallas City – Unincorporated Date – Aug 26, 2012 Time of Day – Afternoon Temperature – Warm (70-89°F/21-32°C) Weather – Overcast Habitat – Agricultural-Farm Type of Behavior – Fleeing Gender – Uncertain Maturity
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I spent some time hiking (read, struggling) through the bottom lands surrounding a small creek in Frisco this weekend. There are a lot of Greenbrier Vines in this part of the woods. These vine have thorns and they can create an impediment very much like a tangle of barbed wire. They make the going very
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