Fall is here and it is a great time to get outside and explore Dallas parks. With over 300 properties within the Dallas Park and Recreation Department system, a wide variety habitats are available resulting in a wide variety of birds being observed.
Fall is here and it is a great time
to get outside and explore Dallas parks. With over 300 properties within the Dallas Park and Recreation
Department system, a wide variety habitats are available resulting in a widevariety of birds being observed. Parks
may include manicured parks in DowntownDallas and neighborhoods, to the prairies along White Rock Creek, the forest in
the Trinity River bottoms, and the rocky outcropping throughout southwestDallas.
Bird
migration is the result a combination of lots of factors, but in the end it issimply the birds making sure they have the resources to get through the
winter. All the way up into Canada, thebirds are happily eating and nesting, but the days start getting a little
shorter (photoperiod) as Fall and Winter approach. This triggers hormones in the body that getthe birds to start eating more and building up energy reserves. As food resources start to decrease and/or
the cold fronts start up, the birds start heading south. Being in the Central Flyway, many differentbird species are going to travel through the Dallas area. Some of the birds are going to only stay
temporarily, but others are going to stop and stay for the entire winter.
Pre-scoutingwebsites like eBird and iNaturalistcan teach you a lot about the birds coming to Dallas. This can help you identify areas that get a varietyof birds, or maybe specific species you might be looking for. Birds tend to follow corridors and look for
habitat that looks familiar to them. Forthis reason, the White Rock Creek riparian corridor from Harry S. Moss Park down
to Tenison Park is the main “hotspot” in Dallas (White RockCreek Watershed). The area around
White Rock Lake has a mix of manicured fields, native prairies and bottomlandhardwood forests. As a result, nearly
300 species of birds have been recorded in the area. Some species you may encounter in and aroundWhite Rock Lake include several species of ducks, Bald Eagle, wintering sparrow
species and more. In the southeast areaof Dallas, the Trinity
River Audubon Center and JoppaPreserve are really good for a mix of water and forest bird species (both
have over 200 species recorded). These are excellent areas to observe PileatedWoodpecker, Red-shouldered Hawk and a variety of wintering waterfowl. The south
end of CrawfordMemorial Park is an underutilized natural area with exciting potential for
birds including several sparrow and warbler species. In northwest Dallas, the recommended area tocheck out is California
Crossing/L.B.Houston Nature Area For a small
area, HinesPark offers a wide variety of birds and has a new wetland observation deck
and trail to observe birds from. Insouthwest Dallas, Cedar
Ridge Preserve is the main hotspot. With the steep hills of the escarpment, this area is much different than
most of Dallas. The KiestConservation Area would be a viable alternative and has a newly reopened
nature trail that provides good view points to see into the tree canopy.
The
Dallas Park and Recreation Department utilizes information from both eBird and iNaturalist. Please consider creating an account andsharing your observations. Those
observations help the department monitor the health of the localecosystems. We would love to have more
Citizen Scientists out collecting data, especially at Kiest Conservation Areaand Crawford Memorial Park.
If you
are new to birding, find an experienced birder to partner up with. AudubonDallas hosts several field trips each year. There are two field trips at White Rock Lake in the next month. For more information, visit Audubon DallasField Trips.
For
more information on birds in Dallas or Dallas Park and Recreation Departmentconservation work, please visit the Urban Biologist website.
