Words and images © 2006, 2007 + 2008 by J R Compton. All Rights Reserved. No Reproduction in any form!

INDEX OF PAGES

The current Journal is always here.

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Single-winged Cormorant Drying Its Only Good Wing

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Links ON THIS PAGE go to:  The Journal   The Species Pages   White Rock Lake   Beyond White Rock 
Other Info   Map of White Rock Lake   Feedback   Other Birds   Ruffles   Cameras & Lenses Used

Linked from this page — JOURNALS FOR 2008: January  February  March
2007:  Jan  Feb  March  April  May  June  July  Aug  Sept  Oct  Nov  Dec
2006:  June  July  August  September  October  November  December
 

Introduction

I walk and photograph birds at White Rock Lake four days almost every week. Sometimes weekends, but I don't like that many people at my lake. In busy times like before Christmas and while preparing for my show at the White Rock Lake Museum in Dallas' Bath House Cultural Center through April 20, 2008 — I birded less. This journal is an obsession I will ratchet back occasionally, so I have time and energy for life and family and those other obsessions. But I always come back. — J R Compton
 

Monthly Journals

May 2008

I rarely keep up with the latest monthly journal's index. You pretty much have to go there to see what I've been photographing lately. It changes every day or so. I eventually catch up with each month's full index.

April 2008

Rogers Rehabilitation Center, The Dallas Zoo and the usual bunch of other birds. The pelicans left mid-month as they usually do. The gulls are gone, again. I'll link the rest later.

March 2008

Muscovies flying out to do it and a log full of cormorants in the fog
Formidable Pelicans and one Barn Swallow fleeting past a log full of cormorants
Pelicans flying and Muscovy Ducks just sitting there
Ring-nosed Gulls and Red-winged Blackbird
Cormorant catching fish
Cardinal, Cedar Waxwings and Coots Running on Water
Mockingbird, Black Vultures, Red-bellied Woodpeckers, Butterbutt, Brown Thrasher and Bluegray Gnatcatcher in Sunset Forest
Pelicans fishing
Cedar Waxwings in my front yard
American White Pelican beak exercize
Mockingbird fight,
Great Kiskadee, Buff-bellied Hummingbird, Golden-fronted Woodpecker, gorgeous Harris Hawk, Mrs. Cardinal, Green Jay, Brown Thrasher, Black-necked Stilts standing, flying and landing and Great Blue Heron pair cavorting in the air on what may be our last trip to the Rio Grande Valley

February 2008

Black Vultures cavorting
Pelicans beaking 
Keets Ahoy
Killdeer extravaganza
Mr. & Mrs. Kestrel 
Least Sandpiper 
Spooked pelicans amok
Red-tailed Hawk 
Hissing Goose 
Mrs. Kestrel 
Mrs. Bufflehead 
Crooning gull
More commando pelicans  Coots chasing coots   Pie-billed Grebe 
Pigeons courting and mating
Commando pelicans flying, landing and fighting off cormorants
Fan Tail Egret and other breeding egrets at the rookery
Pick it up and drop it and pick it up and drop it Ringed-beak Gull game
Downy Woodpecker very up close
My first Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers
American White Pelican taking a sunny cold bath
Juvenile Black-crowned Night-Heron flying down and around
one female scaup finally shows up only to leave by the next day
Blue-eyed Juvenile Cormorant swimming by

Plain Chachalaca Dance at Betsen-Rio Grande Valley State
Park in Mission, Texas, USA - December 26, 2007

January 2008

Egrets flying and fighting and other courting and/or fishing behaviors
High-wire American Kestrel blown by the wind
Gooses behaving oddly; it must be spring.
Great Blue Heron rising, Red-winged Blackbirds migrating and Turkey Vultures low over the dump
Gull with sinker, line and hook caught in its bill
Great Egrets engaging in competitive behaviors near early spring — with either courting or fishing in mind, more courting/fishing
As the Crows Fly.
The Great Six-pak Duck Rescue and more recent Six-pack sightings
Gulls, young and old
Aggressive Coots
Gooses eating off each other 
Bufflehead Ducks taking off
Cormorants, gulls and pelicans' Fishing Party
Spectacular photographs of American White Pelicans descending and landing
"Six-Pack Duck" trapped in the plastic from a six-pack
Ruddy and Bufflehead Ducks

December 2007

Juvenile Black-crowned Night-Herons in the sun
Black-crowned Night-Herons in the dark
Little Eagle or Northern Mockingbird?
Eastern Downy Woodpecker tracked down momentarily holding still
Magnificent American White Pelicans gyring up into the sky
Cold cormorants and pelicans
Juvenile Black-crowned Night Herons
Cormorants either drying their wings or killing parasites with sunlight
Ring-billed Gulls
Pelicans Fly At Night, so do ducks. Gooses swim and pelicans do too.
Cormorants, and gulls polkadotting the Spillway.
Killdeer, cormorants, scaups, pelicans and the season's first Buffleheads.

November 2007

Pelican Puddle, Gorgeous Grackle and goofy pigeons
Red-tailed Hawk close-up (photo by Anna Palmer)
Black-crowned Night-Heron flying up the lagoon
Eastern Phoebe hunting
More beautiful American White Pelicans
Splashy American Coot bath and one Running on Water
American Kestrel in tree and flying away
Portraits of a Muscovy Duck
Unidentified red hawk and Ring-beaked Gulls
American White Pelicans flying high
Coots running on water, Great Blue Heron and some Monk Parakeets flying near
An illustrated survey of Pelican Beak Actions
Red-tailed Hawk close and in detail
Crows vs. Hawks in the distance
Gray Morph Eastern Screech Owl up close
Big cuddly soft American White Pelicans doing stuff
Fishing party with Ring-beak Gulls, cormorants and plenty pelicans
Variety Pack of Black & light black cormorants, Northern Pintails, Coots, Scaups and Pelicans Bathing
Crows going away
A visit to Lake Tawakoni - Forster's Tern closer, Killdeer, Bluebird
One hawk, two pelicans and a Kingfisher
Sturdy turtles, Great Blue Herons and Great Egrets fishing and an etched grackle beak.
Great Blue Heron landing, pelican beak stretch and a Black-crowned Night Heron sticking out its tongue.
Cormorants, Corm Frost, Parallel pelk beaks and a gull vs coot
Low flying pelicans, pelk beaks, coot feet and lake reconstruction

Great Egret Catching a Big Fish - September 18 2007

October 2007

Indecisive Sandpipers
Forster's Tern and Not A Gadwall
Cormorant Fishing Party
Pelican Beak Stories
Twice-tagged Pelican with a little tongue
Coot Running on Water
Northern Flicker
Great Blue Heron standing, flying and looking fabulous
Western Light Juvenile Red-winged Hawk flyover
Dallas Mockingbird
Cattle Egret in Non-breeding Plumage
Higher Flying Pelicans
Two Cormorants Flying
Ring-billed Gull and some pelicans looking gorgeously funky
Pelicans Sleeping with eyes open and lids shut
Belted Kingfisher swooping up
Pelicans Closer Up
link fixed Goofy Friday - pelicans doing strange and being strange
Our Annual Birds at the State Fair story with lotta different birds not from around here — Maribou Storks, eagle, albino hawk, colorful parrots, plastic lizard thrasher, ostriches and emus
link fixed Downy Woodpecker over, sideways, up and down
link fixed Scissor-tails in the top of tree
Great Blue Heron looking Impressionistic and pix of a juvenile Great Blue Heron fishing
Egrets Flying
Gooses and Coots
Coot escape melee
Birds sculpture in Frisco, Texas

 

September 2007

Pelicans fishing in the dark
Least Sandpiper, egrets and great flying grackles
Two American White Pelicans fishing in bright sunlight
Beautiful flying egrets, a blurry Great Blue Heron and Black-necked Stilts
Gooses, pigeons, ducks and ducks
link fixed This season's first shots of Pelicans Flying
Elastic faced American White Pelican stretching its big beak out, up and around
A Great Egret acting like a Kingfisher, flying fast down to the surface, splashing down and coming up with a big fish.
Green Herons again
Great-tailed Grackles
A lesson in Muscovy Ducks
link fixed Little Blue Heron
Little Blue Ruffle showing its red head
Scissor-tailed Flycatchers on a wire
Great Blue Heron flying flat-out
Rare Juvenile Little Blue Heron fishing
Oodles of Egrets flying and fishing
The Noble Crow
A Panic of Gooses - running on the water and even flying
Intermediate Swainson's Hawk
a bunch of fine photographs of a Green Heron hunting
Two Muscovy Ducks
Long, thin Little Blue Heron hunting
Ducks and Terns and Egrets
Egret with its head stretched way below its feet
Great Blue Heron flying away
Muscovy Hens

August 2007

Little Blue Herons around the Spillway Steps
Juvenile and adult Black-crowned Night Herons in various actions
Double-crested Cormorants over Sunset
A blurry Red-shouldered Hawk
More and more Belted Kingfishers flying
Egrets at low ISO, a Solitary Sandpiper (?) and a Belted Kingfisher in action
Indigo Bunting, Little Blue Herons, Anhingas and Turkey Vultures at the Heard Natural Science Museum grounds
Forster's Terns way out in Sunset Bay
The great Green Heron patience test
Great Blue flying, Wood Duck ducking and a Barn Swallow pair resting
Snowy Egret flying by close and an elegant Heron landing
Fierce Great Egret behind the Bath House
One Great Blue Heron fishing the Lagoon
Egrets chasing and biting and a Great Blue Heron rising

Adult Barn Swallow Feeds Demanding Young Mid-air - July 2 2007

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July 2007

Immature Black-crowned Night Herons flying, walking, learning to fish
Immature Cattle Egret
Wood Duck male in eclipse plumage
Eloquent dance of Snowy Egrets and Black-crowned Night Herons
White Ibis among Cattle Egrets
Wire full of European Starlings of different ages
Snowy Egrets as beautiful object and aggressive creep
Juvenile Great-tailed Grackles with a great tail
Really really blue Little Blue Heron
Link fixed Great Egret catches two fish in one beak
Snowy Egrets Chase each other out of the pond
Goose Mystery solved
Invisible Yellow-crowned Night Heron in the dark
Three Killdeer up close, running, ruffling and standing in the sun
Dallas Morning News Interview with Steve Blow
    The True Facts behind that story and one in Texas Parks &
    Wildlife Magazine that also quotes and misquotes me.
Monk Parakeet trying to drag big leaf
House Sparrow taking Dust Bath
Aggresso Duck, head-low attack and Breast Butting
Black-cronwed Night Heron up the dam among sparkling water
Snowy Egret ruffle
Goose Ballet and fireworks over the water
Zillions of Swallows hog all the wires in sight
Cattle Egrets flying and landing near the northern swamps
Scissor-tailed Flycatchers doing the mid-air twist
Yellow-crowned Night Herons fishing in the deep weeds
Flutter greetings from Barn Swallows on a wire

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June 2007

Monk Parakeet as colorful flying abstract
Close encounter - Little Blue Heron and Snowy Egret
Little Blue Heron Fishing
Pigeons and Barn Swallows on the wire
Wood Ducks & Goose News
Black-crowned Night Heron
Juvenile Wood Ducks
Watching people "feed the birds"
Gooses on the Looses, ducks, Snow Goose. Baltimore Oriole and Hovering Kingbird
Juvenile Cardinal loose in the Gin Building
Black-crowned Night Herons, Snow & Great Egrets chasing round the Spillway
Downy young Killdeer
New Gooses at Sunset Bay
First Green Heron of the Season
Black-crowned Night Heron Nesting
Breeding Adult Little Blue Heron
Rookery: Cattle Egret eggs in nest and Nestlings alone and with mom
Fledgling Blue Jay with a broken foot
Barn Swallows preening and showing special tail feathers
Northern Mockingbirds Close-Up and exhibiting Flashing Behavior
Egyptian Goose as abstract art

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May 2007

Barn Swallow close-ups
Three different colored Muscovy Ducks
Northern Mockingbirds fighting
Baltimore Oriole breeding adult
Egyptian Geese walking, stooping and short-trip flying
Black-bellied Whistling Ducks flying away
White Ibis at the Medical Center Rookery
Molted Mallard doesn't look that mallardish
The Fitchery ("The Old Fish Hatchery Area), where many birds live
Scissor-tail Flycatchers catching butterflies and bugs
Tropical Kingbird and nest in Texas breeding territory
Large, economy sized domestic ducklings
Female Red-bellied Woodpecker pecking wood
Killdeer in the grass
Mockingbird chick demands feeding
Monk Parakeets feeding their young
Snowy Egret Fishing in the shallows
First returning Muscovy Duck — a blonde
Female Downy Woodpecker
Big black dog attacks geese and ducks and catches one
High-wing Red-winged Blackbird in the air , and out standing in their field
Eastern Kingbird?
High-Breeding Season Cattle Egrets at the Rookery, them in full fluff mode , a Cattle Egret flying at the lake, their nests in the rookery and a nester
Sunset Bay's resident Great Blue Heron flying
First Yellow-crowned Night Heron of the season
Grackle courting displays
Great Egret courting displays
First Snowy Egret of the season
Comparing ages of Wood Duck ducklings
Northern Shoveler's disheveled flight
Churky finally identified
Spotted Sandpiper up close
Wood Ducks

Great Egret with Monster Branch — April 1 2007

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April 2007 - link fixed

Great Blue Heron
Scissor-tailed Flycatchers - top, side and bottom views
White-butted black heron...
Wood Duck mom being protective of 11 ducklings
Why they're called Blue-wing Teal
Spotted Sandpiper
Goose Egg Sitting drama and violent sex
Courting Grackle makes a pass
Black-bellied Whistling Ducks and their pink legs
The Mysterious Churkey and why it crossed the road
Purple Martins majesty
Tree Swallow passing through
Barn Swallow with white coverlets showing
Mallard mom and 12 new ducklings
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher doing his mating attraction display
Rookery - lots of Little Blues, a pair of Anhingas and a jillion Great Egrets

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March 2007

Detailed photographs of Wood Duck pair
Brown-headed Cowbird
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher - first sighting
Soundless Starling — mouth-open behavior
The Last Pelicans of the Season
Downy Woodpecker
Muscovy Duck - bath
Northern Shoveler and it flying like abstract art
Pigeons - The Real Courting Rituals as well as explaining dragging tail feathers
Red-winged Blackbirds - gather for mating, epaulet popping and more epaulet action
Killdeers - have returned
Ducks - consensual sex and straightening up after, mating rituals, defying gravity, killed by a bicyclist
House Sparrows decked out for spring,
Red-shouldered Hawk Attack!
Yellow-shafted Northern Flicker
Barred Owl - first sighting, more detailed views a couple days later
Butter-Butt - scratching its chin
Belted Kingfisher Fishing
Coots Catching, playing with, showing off and fighting about fish, Coots Running on Water
Dead Coot Photographed in the studio - no blood or gore, just strange images, but finally a great, close-up of a coot foot
Mallard with broken bill
Ring-billed Gull that caught a big fish - The Last Gull of the Season
First-year Red-winged Blackbird
Noble-looking European Starling
Yellow-rumpd Warbler — "Butter Butt"
Lesser or Greater Scaup?

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February 2007

Cedar Waxwings falling for blackberries
Mr & Mrs Mallard at the Old Fish Hatchery
Mockingbird in Flight - photos
Parakeets carrying branches to rebuild their nests after windstorms
Pelicans fishing Esther Williams Style but not always in unison
Pelicans less than beautiful - bold, interesting, odd pelican photos
Pigeon mating dance - puffing up, dragging feathers and "kissing?"
Ruddy Ducks
Touring White Rock Birds with George Boyd

Mr. & Mrs. Cardinal
Carolina Chickadee
6 painted pigeons
Coot running on water

 

January 2007

Question: Do Cormorants Run or Hop Over The Water to get airborne?
Answer: How Cormorants Take Off
 
Shape-Shifting Double-crested Cormorant
Immature Black-crowned Night Heron, another, another,
Baby Double-crested Cormorant?
Female Red-winged Blackbird,
American White Pelicans - extreme beak stretch, another, beaking, flying and floating , flying again , 15 pelicans flying along together , a fleet of them with cormorants fishing
Portraits of Four Gooses
More Gooses
Great Egret flying with fish,
Northern Mockingbird on branch
Undefined but exciting Goose Action
American Coot feet
Huge Flock of Ring-billed Gulls
Great Blue Heron from several angles
Portrait of a Pigeon - up close and personal

Immature Black-crowned Night Heron - January 25, 2007

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2006

December 2006

Cormorant Flurry
Lesser Scaups - Female Scaup, Scaups Diving,
Goose Sex
The Absurd Drama of Gooses "Diving"
Gulls Chase Coots
Shape-shifting Cormorants , First Winter Cormorant Fly-by ,
American White Pelican Bathing Habits
Cormorants Running or Hopping to Fly?
Pelican Beak Stretching , Balance Beam Routine,
Best Grackle Bath Shot

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November 2006

The Belligerent Coot
Sudden Multi-species Escape
Sky Full of Ducks
Red-shouldered Hawk in my neighborhood,
Cormorants in Late Evening with Flash
Coot Running to Fly, The Secret of Their Feet,
Monk Parakeet Flying In Low

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October 2006

Birds at the State Fair
Great Egret Flyover ,
Double-crested Cormorant drying wings
American White Pelicans - dueling with their beaks , fishing like Esther Williams with fans ,  
Pigeon Flying Almost Too Close ,
Black-crowned Night Heron with spillway as art,
Duck Splash Fight
Goose with Plastic Tab,
Herring Gull - the first gull back to the lake

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September 2006

Goose Sex
Black-crowned Night Heron - family,
Juvenile Red-shouldered Hawk - in the trees,
Great-tailed Grackles - bathing ,
Ducks doing the one-foot, left-lean Duck Dance,
Great Blue Heron - stealing fish,
Belted Kingfisher
Green Heron

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August 2006 - I don't know why exactly — it could be the in-flight fight between crows and a juvenile Red-shouldered Hawk — but this is the most popular Amateur Birder's page ever.

Immature Little Blue Heron - flying,
American Coots - shows his big feet ,
Hundreds of Great Egrets Sleeping, then flying out in great blurs
Yellow-crowned Night Heron Juvenile ,
Juvenile Red-shouldered Hawk - perched, all-out Battle with American Crow , flying
Muscovy Gander - portrait  ,
Reddish Heron - flying,
2 of 9 Gooses Running , portraits of gooses

Pink-nosed Ducks and Seven Stripey Ducklings
Anna I.Deed them as Black Bellied Whistling Ducks
Photograph by my mother, Mary Compton
June 24 2006

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July 2006

Little Blue Heron flying close, standing in creek
Juvenile Great Blue Heron wading - good detail
Green Heron
Little Blue Heron "wiggle-beaking fish"
gooses attacking - coming in low
Green Monk Parakeets playing lovebirds
Monk Parakeet Nests in the electrical substation
Great Egret catching a fish
Black-crowned Night Heron - landing wings out, juvenile,
Yellow-crowned Night Heron - being nearly invisible,
Cattle Egret Flying,

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June 2006

Black-bellied Whistling Duck family (male, female and 6 vivid black and white striped ducklings) in the canal behind my parent's house in the Rio Grande Valley near McAllen, Texas — photograph by Mary Compton (my mother)
Little Blue Heron on White Rock Lake's Spillway Steps
Close Fly-by by a Black-crowned Night Heron
Little Blue Heron wiggle-beaking fish

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The Bird Pages (species)

Egrets - Great, Snowy and Cattle Egrets illustrated photographs of their Socialization, Fishing, Flying, Courtship & Mating behaviors

Herons - Great Blue, Little Blue, Green, Black-crowned Night and Yellow-crowned Night Herons, with fascinating photographs of their specific fishing methods and fights over mating

Egrets vs. Herons - Full descriptions and photographs of each species, discussion of the confusions, showing and telling how to tell apart the species that visit White Rock Lake.

A growing page of birds ruffling

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Other Bird Pages

The Bird Identification Page: Photographs of birds readers send to get identified.

I'm still organizing  Strange Things Pelicans Do with Their Beaks but pix are amazing.
 

The following pages are old and not very well organized or presented:

Mockingbirds - attractive and distractive tree-top aerobatics and ground-level wing flashings

Grackles - courtship behaviors, including knock-down, flopping-around fights to near death

Redwing Blackbirds - male and female close-ups him chasing her at high speed, puffing and color-showing behavior

Ducks - Ducks (and gooses) have the most violent and rape-like sex I've seen in any species

Flycatchers - Scissor-tailed Flycatchers perched and flying — big, long tails and hovering flights

Starlings - fighting over food

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Steep Learning Curve in Nikon D200 Land — Before the Birder Journal, I photographed birds at the lake and a lot of other things as I first learned my then new d SLR camera. Unlike the later Amateur Birder's Journal, this one contains both good and lousy photographs as I learned from both.

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Supplemental Pages

Birding + Lake Links

Bibliography - Bird books and movie

Feedback - our readers write

Betsy's Letters - email exchange from Betsy Baker, whose letters are packed with bird and birding information.

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White Rock Lake

Map of White Rock Lake - annotated, sometimes even illustrated, with names I've learned over the years and some we just made up.

White Rock Trail - We'd heard about it, but till we walked all the way from Mockingbird Lane to just north of LBJ Freeway, we didn't know what it was all about. There's Red-shouldered Hawks and lots more birds up and down, as it winds through urban and even industrial North Dallas.

White Rock Creek - I paddled up it.

“My Best Birds” were at one time, about the middle of 2005, my best bird photograph. They now pale in comparison to most of what I do every week, but ya have to start somewhere.

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Beyond White Rock Lake

Birds of New Mexico & Arizona - our trip to the Grand Canyon and back and birds all along the way

Texas' Rio Grande Valley - visiting family and birds in the rich country along the border — summer 2005

Birds of The Rio Grande - II has more than a hundred large photos & dozens of stories about the birds of Texas' Lower Rio Grande Valley — winter 2007

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