A few hours exploring

Saturday promised to be a sun-filled day, I’ve spend the last 3 weekends packing and organizing and cleaning….and I was done with that.   Well still a lot more to do, but I needed a break.  Journeyed off to LLELA…Lake Lewisville Environmental Learning Area, one of my favorite spots and only 10 minutes from the house.  A quick explanation is likely due here to those that read my blog and do not live in the Dallas area.  Last spring resolved all of our drought concerns…Lake Lewisville was full so the dam was wide open allowing the water to rapidly flow down the trinity river and throughout LLELA.  Trails have been underwater since last spring.  I haven’t been there in about a month so I was pleasantly surprised to find the dam at a trickle and the trails emerged fully from the water.   I arrived around 7:30 and the mist was still coming off the many little ponds

As far as birding goes, it was not a fruitful day, rather quiet but the walk was wonderful.  I hadn’t realized how far I’d walked until I came upon the Bittern Marsh Trail, zig zagging along I’d probably gone 5 miles.   Wildflowers were starting to bloom and butterflies and dragonflies were everywhere.

I ended up at the dam and heard one of my favorite fishermen….the Belted Kingfisher…they are sooooo fast and I was amazed when I got home to find I had finally captured an in-focus photo of one in flight…couldn’t resist the captioning 🙂

As I was about to head home there were two gentlemen looking up at a treetop,  knew there was a bird up there but couldn’t really tell what it was, thought perhaps an indigo bunting. Allen and George,  were trying to identify the little guy.  They asked if I would snap a shot and then zoom in so they could get a better look.  Well a lifer for me.   It was a blue grosbeak,an immature male so all the blue was not yet there.  They apparently spend their summers here and return south when it gets chilly

All in all a wonderful Saturday morning 🙂