I Had been reading about this place since I moved to Dallas area but never got a chance to visit the place. This winter I had decided to revisit some of my favorite places but also added this place as well. I was planning to visit during the Christmas break but based on recent interesting sightings at this place I preponed my trip. There were reporting of Mountain Bluebird which is very rare visitor to Dallas area. There was also sightings of Say's phoebe which is another rare visitor. Both of them were reported during the first couple of weeks of November. I had not checked the rare bird alert and missed seeing both of these birds. I had Say's Phoebe at Big Bend National Park but the Mountain Bluebird would have been my first sighting. In third week of November I started seeing the reports of Common Ground Dove which is another very rare visitor to the Dallas area. It was interesting to see so many rare birds in a single month at the same location here in Dallas. I decided to try my luck to see these birds. I also had not seen many of our wintering ducks and this was a great place to see the ducks with so many tanks/ponds around.
ebird Hotspot : https://ebird.org/hotspot/L122362
Reached the place by 7. The VCDB has small parking lot but it was closed and I was not sure of the gate timings. Instead I parked my car at the opposite park(Dunlop center). Thankfully birders were already there. I met Jim Sipiora here. I had been to one of his bird walks to Palo Pinto Park back in 2016. He leads walks to this Drying beds regularly. I was in very good company for the day.
Just as we entered the park we could here lot of sparrows and other birds. Since the light was low I could not make much out of the birds. As we were about to reach the tank bund a Bobcat crossed the road right in front of us. It was surreal to see a wild cat like that. We were so stunned that no none of managed to lift our cameras to take the picture. It was great way to start the birding day. As we reached the tank bunds we scoped the tanks to see the ducks. There were Mallards, Coots, Pintails and Green-winged Teals.
One of the birds called out Rusty Blackbirds. I was waiting to see these birds for a while. Its reported very often around the birding spots in Dallas area but I never got to see them till now. They were mixed in with Red-Winged Blackbirds. We could see the birds very clearly. I did not get good pictures but enough to ID the birds. There were atleady 5-6 of them mixed in with other black birds. Not a bad way to start the day. We checked the power lines on the tank bund scanning the wires for the birds. We saw some Savannag Sparrows and Pippits here. After this we started walking towards the first pumping station. There was Meadow Lark and the American Kestrel as well here. A Red-bellied Woodpecker hopped on one of the poles looking for food before flying away. Near the nearby reeds we saw a Ruby-crowned Kinglet.
 |
| Rusty Blackbird |
 |
| Savannah Sparrow |
 |
| Ruby-crowned Kinglet |
 |
| American Pipit |
 |
| American Kestrel |
 |
| Meadowlark |
 |
| Red-bellied Woodpecker |
 |
| Lincoln Sparrow |
We started walking the path towards the water pumping station. We were told the Common Ground Doves were found in this path. As we walked towards this path we saw lot of American Goldfinches and Pine Siskins. They were everywhere. Also present was a lone Spotted Towhee. My first sighting for this season. Right on the pumping station was a Juvenile Red-Shouldered Hawk. He was basking in the sun with no care and wasn't bothered with our presence there. Most of us were surprised at how comfortable this hawk was with humans. Most of us took pictures and walked away without disturbing him much. We did not find the Ground doves. We decided to walk ahead to see if we see some other birds. As we kept walking James Sipiora got a phone call that the Common Ground Doves were seen near the Pumping Station. We returned back to see them. There were 2 of the birds. We stayed quite far to make sure we did not disturb them. James Sipiora had a scope which helped getting very good view of the birds. Thanks to James Sipiora for sharing the scope. As folks tried to get a little closer they flew away into the reeds. Great to see these birds again after seeing them for the first time in Big Bend National Park.
 |
| Spotted Towhee |
 |
| Black Phoebe |
 |
| Red-shouldered Hawk |
 |
| Eastern Bluebird |
 |
| American Goldfinch |
 |
| Song Sparrow |
 |
| Pine Siskin |
 |
| Common-ground Dove |
 |
| Savannah Sparrow |
 |
| House Finch |
 |
| House Finch(Female) |
 |
| American Crow |
After this I headed back to the water tanks to see the ducks. There were Buffleheads, Lesset Scaups and all the other ducks. I was hoping to see some Canvasbacks but had no luck. Also missing were any of the Grebes. Did not see any of them. But got some very good looks at one of the Red-shouldered Hawk nearby. There were Bluebirds lining the wires on the tank bund.
 |
| Green-winged Teal |
 |
| Red-shouldered Hawk |
 |
| Bufflehead |
 |
| Gadwall, American Wigeon, Northern Shoveller and Green-winged Teal |
 |
| Gadwall |
 |
| Northern Shoveller |
 |
| Red-shouldered Hawk |
 |
| Eastern Bluebird |
 |
| Ring-necked Duck |
 |
| Green-winged Teal |
 |
| Northern Pintail |
 |
| Yellow-rumped Warbler |
Returned home after a very productive day. Another bird that was reported here was a Purple Finch. I did not have any luck with this bird. Still waiting to see this bird. Hope I get to see this bird soon.
ebird : https://ebird.org/checklist/S76966596
Birds seen during the day :
- Canada Goose
- Blue-winged Teal
- Northern Shoveler
- Gadwall
- American Wigeon
- Mallard
- Northern Pintail
- Green-winged Teal
- Ring-necked Duck
- Bufflehead
- Ruddy Duck
- Common Ground Dove
- Mourning Dove
- American Coot
- Killdeer
- Greater/Lesser Yellowlegs
- Neotropic/Double-crested Cormorant
- Great Blue Heron
- Red-shouldered Hawk
- Red-tailed Hawk
- Red-bellied Woodpecker
- Downy Woodpecker
- Eastern Phoebe
- Blue Jay
- American Crow
- Carolina Chickadee
- Tufted Titmouse
- Brown Thrasher
- Northern Mockingbird
- Eastern Bluebird
- American Robin
- American Pipit
- House Finch
- Pine Siskin
- American Goldfinch
- Dark-eyed Junco
- Savannah Sparrow
- Spotted Towhee
- Western/Eastern Meadowlark
- Red-winged Blackbird
- Brown-headed Cowbird
- Rusty Blackbird
- Northern Cardinal
