map from Google Maps

Places are arranged geographically, not alphabetically. It's not fully implemented yet, but when it is, we'll be able to click somewhere on the map above and be transported to the right place in the list of names and descriptions below. We made up some names; took others from common usage over the years; and some are official.

The bird lists are a work in progress: Most of the birds are in photos on these pages. To find specific mentions or images of a species, use the Google Search of My Sites to find the words, and the photos will follow. Beware, since it's a search of all my sites, some findings may be about art or poetry instead of birds. I keep adding species to the lists as I remember old ones or encounter new ones.
 

Place Names & Birds Seen

White Rock Trail is a continuation of the Walking/Biking Path around White Rock Lake. It starts north, across Mockingbird Lane, on the corner of Mockingbird and Lawther, the street that goes almost all the way around the lake.
 

White Rock Creek - from at or just north of Mockingbird Bridge to just north of LBJ. See Up the Creek with a Paddle, continuing south of the Spillway and Spillway Steps through the dark green area on the map that is the golf course, under I-30 and beyond.
 

Mockingbird Bridge - There used to be a wide bicycling path marked in yellow with road humps across the south side of the bridge. I suspect there were many accidents. Bicyclers are not known for following prescribed rules, stopping at stop signs or lights, going the right way, yielding or those other traffic niceties. Now walkers and some bikers take the Singing Bridge. Others risk suicide against the sometimes bizarre auto traffic there in the name of independence. Back to map.

See Singing Bridge (below) for a list of birds in this area.
 

Pelican Island - small island under and protruding south from Mockingbird Bridge. It's been called that since at least the 1980s. Probably, at one time, Pelicans hung out there. Now they spend most of their social, preening and daylight rest time in Sunset Bay, scouting out in all directions. The island disappears in high water, but I've never seen a pelican there, although they sometimes fish that area in large, Esther Williams style synchronized-swimming groups. map

Black- and Yellow-crowned Night Herons, Great Blue Herons, Great Egrets, Double-crested Cormorants, Muscovy Ducks, Ruddy Ducks can sometimes be seen from the bridge diving, Mallards
 

Singing Bridge

Singing Bridge - The biking and walking bridge immediately south of Mockingbird Bridge. I called it "singing," because in any wind, the whole thing hummed loudly — you could feel the wood boards and metal braces vibrating. But they fixed it, so it doesn't sing anymore, although I still call it that.  

Not to be confused with the rhythmic but mostly silent, queasy-uneasy shaking most of the suspension-type walking bridges experience during and just after joggers or heavy walkers cross the bridge. Sometimes makes stomachs queasy and careful photography impossible except at bridge joints where two spans come together. The only White Rock Walking bridge that does not waver is Garland bridge, although the Bent Bridge is not as shaky. map

American White Pelican flyovers, Great Blue Herons, Great Egrets, Muscovy Ducks, Black- and Yellow-crowned Night Herons —Although there's usually not many birds there, sometimes Great Blue Herons (big gray) stand under the trees on the far (west) side left in the photo above, and very often there's a Great Egret (big white) fishing under the car bridge, especially on the west side — unless somebody's let their dogs loose to swim there, in which case no birds will be in sight. Dogs are supposed to be on leashes, but usually are not, and nobody seems to care but me. Scissor-tailed Flycatchers are common in the tall weeds in late spring and especially summer.
 

Dog Park - stinky protrusion where we're most likely to find dogs off leashes, although it's normal, albeit illegal, all around the lake. Few doggers pick up their poop, and through design or neglect, loose dogs are occasionally seen chasing birds in the water. map

Same as the Singing Bridge area above.
 

Thistledown Road in 2001 — unleashed dogs are still common there,
but the tall weeds, bio-diversity and thistles are long gone.

Thistledown Meadows - The walking path around the Dog Park area was once publicized for its "natural" meadows. Not no more. The City destroyed all the Thistle and other exotic tall plants the place was ripe with. It smelled better before and was colorful and wildly beautiful with a remarkable variety of plant life, and a sense of separation. I once saw Passion Flowers (the rare squat ones that puff out from the ground) growing there. But since its northern portion became a dog park with normal and continuous implementation of the City's Habitat Destruction Machines, the plant life along that shoreline have been normalled down to deadly boring with a concrete path. map

It's been so long since I've enjoyed being there that I don't remember any birds but Great Blue Herons along the east edge, and egrets near the point of the south shore. Lots of cormorants, of course, in autumn and winter, since that once-wild and trail-free area borders Cormorant Bay, just below.
 

Bent Bridge - on Lawther south of the so-called Biker's Parking Lot (one of only two on the lake you have to drive over gravel to get to). Unlike all other lake walking bridges, it's gray and incorporates a bend in the middle. It was intended to keep heavy walking traffic from further destroying the shore, which has got seriously thinner over the years. A park bench still sits on the west, land side of the bridge, though it is much less used now, since mostly what you can see from there is the bridge. map

Cormorants a plenty, gulls of various species, Great Blue Herons, egrets, coots, Mallards, grebes
 

Cormorant Bay - All winter, hundreds (perhaps thousands) of black Double-crested Cormorants perch in the trees around the upper edges of the bay. They basically do two things up there, dry their wings from swimming and diving into the lake, and scat.

When it's cold, that area has the pungent stench of white cormorant scat, which turns the sidewalks, grass and trees so white it looks like snow. Especially noticeable at night, there's a loud hiss as the stuff falls through the airs and trees and splats on the ground. Wear a hat or walk fast, and hold your nose. map

Same as Bent Bridge above, which is in Cormorant Bay.
 

Green Heron Park - lately updated to have a nice stone bridge over the creek I've several times watched families out in slamming away on some poor snake. I didn't want to call it Dead Snake Park, but I've often seen Green Herons there, so I called it that.

I named it after a Green Heron who hunted among the reeds there. It had been there for several years. I don't know whether it'll approve of all the new concrete, though. I sure don't. I haven't seen any there since the construction.
 

Tilley's Point - is called something else by the City, according to a plaque there. But we like Tilley's. Probably the best thing about our name for the point closest to the Bath House across the lake is that there is no and has never been anybody we know named Tilley, although we thought we'd seen a bench (there were more benches there than anywhere at the lake, but the City pulled most of them out, and now there's several picnic tables instead) memorializing Tilley. It is also the intermittent home of the "Free Advice" blanket, worth every penny.

Grackles, cormorants, Great Egrets; I've seen up to three pelicans on a log well out from there;
 

Parrot Bay - mistakenly named for the green Monk Parakeets that fly across the bay every morning, this area has been called that for at least a dozen years. map

There's three separate environments on the various sides of this diverse bay. North has tall trees and a big parking lot with a boat launch and lots of gulls, coots and egrets. South has more tall trees, hilly grass and two creeks running through with coots, egrets and a resident Kingfisher who races around screaming his staccato cry and diving for food. And the west end has zillions of reeds right down to the water where Great Blue Herons and egrets hide and Red-winged Blackbirds flock while American White Pelicans sometimes visit.

Boat House and Lagoon from Garland
Road near Bent Bridge Across the Lake
 

Boat House Lagoon - The Boat House used to be a boat house, where fishermen and others parked their boats. Then for decades it was a favorite (but dangerous) fishing area. Now it looks like an all-White enclave for rich people with fancy rowing boats and one conspicuous motorboat, whose motor is probably larger than the legal limit of horsepower use on White Rock Lake. map.

I watched a Great Blue Heron strip more than a dozen fish off an absent fisher-person's line; it's a regular haunt for the parakeets who live in the Big Hum up the hill from the dam; used to be dozens of Yellow-crowned Night Herons, but now it's mostly Black-crowns; a Wood Duck pair raise young there almost every spring, American White Pelicans visit there sometimes, Great Egrets spend early mornings there, a ghostly scene in early morning fog. Once photographed a Summer Tanager there.
 

The New Boat House - is bigger than the old one, and I wonder what use it is. It does reflect a lot of light and even from the east side of the lake, it can be blinding when the sun is low. Maybe when the economy comes back, they'll afford to put some paint on it.
 

Left to right: The Pump House at the North End of the
Dam, The Filter Building and New Boat House from Garland Road

The Pump House - used to be where Dallas water got pumped out of the lake. Most of our potable water now comes from much further away, and the Old Pump House building has become exclusive offices for civil servants. Closed to the public and lately policed by rent-a-cops who prohibit overt photography of the dam for Homeland Security reasons to protect us all from terrorists who have not yet learned how to use Google Maps.
 

The Dam - holds back a lot of water, letting a controlled amount sluice through the wide Spillway Area, then turning a sharp right angle south into White Rock Creek. Supposedly, someday there will be a walking bridge directly over the spillway portion of the dam, connecting the dam with the all-concrete flood-watching area that got washed away in our last 100-year flood that happens every decade. map.

Great Blue Herons, Great Egrets, grackles, starlings, cormorants, sandpipers, Little Blue Herons,
 

Fitchery (The Old Fish Hatchery Area) - used to be a fish hatchery comprising large rectangular "pans" of water for raising fish (the light rectangles on the map above). It's probably the best area around the lake to find wildlife — both animals — including beaver, foxes, rabbits, some middle-sized cats, and a wide variety of birds. It's where Audubon Bird Tours start. It's beautiful. Only trouble is the paths don't necessarily go where you want, and some don't go anywhere at all. Poison Ivy grows wild all over the place. And there's all those branches and leaves blocking our avian views. map.

The Fitchery is beautiful, though stifling in summer, a little dangerous with those pans of water and not much to keep the clumsy from falling in. It is home to countless birds. I've heard that Black-bellied Whistling Ducks raising their cute little striped young there; I've often seen egrets and herons, woodpeckers, starlings, robins, red-wings, grackles, egrets, herons, titmice, ducks and many other species there. Various woodpeckers can be heard and sometimes seen there. When the local Audubon folks do a free tour, they often start here.
 

The Spillway - spills water along a long concrete apron between land areas. After it sluices southwest down the spillway, water is splashed suddenly in a right angle southeast down the Spillway Steps, emptying into White Rock Creek (the south end) that escapes over a couple of picturesque water falls through the golf course and out under I-30. map.

Great Blue Herons, Little Blue Herons (adult and juveniles), Black-crowned and Yellow-crowned Night Herons, cormorants, pigeons (of course), sandpipers, acres of Ring-billed Gulls during the winter, and many more species fly over the area. My Bald Eagle was flying there, also.

Water Subliming from the Spillway Steps

Spillway Steps - directly west of the Spillway, where water courses down, surges left over a series of concrete steps to exit into White Rock Creek (See above.) In spring and when the City's not dawdling about fixing the Spillways "retaining walls" that fell in the spring of 2006's 100-Year-Flood (after they let the area between dirt and concrete repeatedly fill with water. The City blamed the flood. I blame the City which lamely filled the obvious sink holes with dirt, while the water sluiced down between the so-called retaining walls and the earth, practically guarantying that the walls would fall, and they did.), it's the best and most accessible area for photographing birds — except maybe around the pier in Sunset Bay. map.

When the walking bridge is open again in another couple years, it's a fabulous place to stand on a short stool and photograph over the guard rail. I've spent hours watching Great Blue Herons, Little Blue Herons, Black- and Yellow-crowned Night Herons fish there; there's often one cormorant diving on the deep side along the steps.

All this may change as they muck up the area with new construction and giga-tons of concrete after the City watched idly as known sink-holes destroyed the concrete "retaining" walls around the spillway, except of course, they didn't retain anything but rain water that accumulated over several years while the dorks piled more and more dirt down them and planted them over with grass every other season.
 

Yacht Club Bay - Boat Clubs along this area of shoreline. Usually not many birds, although egrets and Great Blue Herons, wild gooses, and others stray into there sometimes. map.

The largest population of ducks there are usually the goose-like Muscovy Ducks, although there are occasional Great Egrets and Great Blue Herons and a regular Green Heron. I've even seen (though they were too quick for me to photograph) hummingbirds among the tall reeds by the water's edge.
 

Mockingbird Hill - is called that, becaue Mockingbird Lane tops its borders. There are lots more Mockingbirds elsewhere. There's always some at Winfrey Point.

Cardinals, Blue Jays; I've heard lots of reports that the pelicans fly high over here;
 

The Big Thicket - thick with trees along and extending from the Yacht Clubs north toward Mockingbird Lane.

Same as the Yacht Club Bay above.
 

The Bath House Culture Center - an official art and theatre building sponsored by the City of Dallas, with extensive parking areas for their and other purposes. map.

Mockingbirds (but they're everywhere at the lake), lots of cormorants on the poles of the sculpture in the water behind the building spring, winter and autumn. Those poles were made for birds to perch on, but they almost never do in summer. Early one May I remember seeing dozens of Great Egrets flying against great winds along the coast between the Bath House and Dreyfuss Point.
 

Dreyfuss Point - One of two social buildings along the edge of the lake. Many weddings and other parties were held there till it burned down in the autumn of 2006.

Before the old Dreyfuss Social Club burned down, the roof was often rife with crows. My great shot of a crow knocking a juvenile hawk out of the air, was taken there. The only time I've seen a Great Blue Heron tall in a tall tree was there, and the power lines often have various birds, including an American Kestrel who still hunts there. I've often photographed Red-tailed and Red-shouldered hawks there. It seems to be a natural hawk hunting ground, and they often fly stately over.
 

Hidden Creek - Several creeks feed into the lake through this densely wooded area where many herons and egrets, Turkey and Black Vultures may be found.

The domestic gooses noise up the area sometimes, but there's also at least one Great Blue Heron, a Great Egret, several Turkey Vultures and Black Vultures have been seen there. That's where I shot a Red-winged Blackbird chasing a Black (I think) Vulture, several little herons — Yellow- and Black-crowned, and both Red-tailed and Red-shouldered hawks. The latter may even nest there. And I'm pretty sure that's where the coyotes den, they've been seen sunning on the new concrete near Poppy Drive.
 

Sunset Bay is probably the most wildlife diverse part of the lake (except the Fitchery), because it is naturally protected from cold north winds and offers a variety of land and vegetation types. map.

In addition to the year-long presence of 50+ liberated domestic gooses and multitudes of ducks, it's where the Egrets Sleep (hundreds of them, well away from shore), and it is winter home to our annual 7-month winter vacation for a large population of American White Pelicans, from mid-September through Tax Day. I've counted as many as 110 of them there, although I don't think they all stay.

Other birds that have been sighted there include: cormorants, all five of our local varieties of herons — Great Blues, Little Blues, Green, Yellow- and Black-crowned Night Herons, all our egrets, woodpeckers, Red-winged Blackbirds, Grackles, Mallards, Muscovies, gooses, Avocets (!), sandpipers, Black-bellied Whistling Ducks, Egyptian Gooses, Wood Ducks, Pintails, Gadwalls, Monk Parakeets, Killdeer, Red-tailed Hawks, and a Belted Kingfisher can often be heard (though he's fast and seldom photographed) up and down the shore.
 

Winfrey Point - The other social building, also offers a high point for photographing and viewing the lake, especially during storms. Several festivals are held in the largish parking lot.

Osprey, Red-tailed Hawks, a pair of American Kestrels, an Osprey, mockingbirds aplenty, grackles, Killdeer, one Bald Eagle, one pair of Yellow-headed Blackbirds, Red-winged Blackbirds, Scissor-tailed Flycatchers, Western Kingbirds,
 

Arboretum Drive - Forgetting that I called it "Arboretum Drive" on this map, I usually call it DeGoyler in the journal. Unfortunately, probably not that many people know what that is. What used to be the richer-than-God DeGoyler's estate, is now Dallas' Arboretum, which ya pay $5 or so to get into to see flowers and creeks and trees and misters misting them. Usually there's sculpture, fountains, pools and such. There's even an incredibly cheap-looking "Western Town" area down by the lake.

I've never seen anything but Great-tailed Grackles on the grounds themselves, and I'm not much excited about paying to look at flowers, when they're everywhere else for free, but they do have free concerts that noise up the lake on Thursnites during the summer.

In the water along there, however, I've seen thousands of Ruddy Ducks, Buffleheads, coots galore, Mallards, Gadwalls, Pintails, Pied-billed and Horned Grebes, Great Egrets, grackles, starlings, cardinals, Great Blue and Green Herons,
 

Garland Bridge

Garland Bridge - a small walking bridge of the high, rusted iron sides variety, the only one at the lake that does not heave queasily when joggers run over it. Back to map.

Great Egrets, grackles, starlings, Barn Swallows, Green Herons,