Prairie Creek

We noticed Prairie Creek Park by chance. It is located near N Collins Boulevard and W Campbell Road in Richardson, Texas. We visited there on late Saturday morning in periodic drizzles.

As we approached the park, we saw a water fall on the left hand side. We were surprised to hear and see the thundering water fall. The high flow rate in the creek was due to continuous overnight rain which ended around 10:30am that morning.

A great grey heron flew by and landed on a rock a short distance from the water fall. It stayed there for a few seconds, apparently realized that it was not a good spot for fishing, it flew to our side, landed on a rock for a second or two, and flew away along the creek.

We walked forward in the direction of the upstream of the creek. The woods are dense there, and the foliage was colorful. There were also many birds which were heard but not seen. Everything there felt so natural, compared to most city parks in the area.

Crossing a pedestrian bridge, we walked along the trail in the woods by the creek southward. Despite the gloomy sky, the foliage really brightened our moods. We turned around at Fall Creek bridge, and crossed the creek again at the pedestrian bridge and walk north from there, and turned around at north Collins road, the way we drove to the park, and approached the Prairie Creek water fall on foot, hearing the thunderous water fall, and saw the greenery.

The Prairie creek park is definitely a gem among North Texas city parks, great for a couple of hours hiking or half day outing - hiking, picnic, bird watching.

Note

There are a few other great city parks along creeks in Plano/Richardson areas:

1) Russell Creek park and hiking trails (5 miles round trip from Russell creek park to Cuter road)

2) Chisholm Trail along Spring creek ( from Legacy Road to Chisholm trail head at E 16th street, 10 miles round trip)

3) Oak Point Nature Reserve Park and trails along Rowlett Creek ( from Oak point at Jupiter to Bob Woodruff Park South, 4 miles) 

Autumn at Spring Creek

Spring Creek is a creek at North Texas, it runs from Plano to Sachse, and merges into Rowllet Creek. We visited Spring Creek in Plano a few times before, primarily to run or walk on Chisholm trail along the  creek.

Recently we visited the Spring Creek at Richardson, enjoyed the foliage along the creek while walking or running. The creek seems to be wider, deeper at Spring Creek Natural Area in Richardson.

The first time I went there was a glorious Saturday morning, we jogged in the natural area, on the trail, along the creek. Foliage was in its peak. 

We liked the area, and we went there for running one more time. 

This is an area with miles of walking and running trails, relative dense woods in addition to the creek.

Quiet, shaded and not too many people. A great place for relaxing and exercising.

Collections of New Bird Photos

We have recorded 112 species of birds since we started bird watching. We spotted the last dozen this year. Here are the photos for some of them.

During our recent trip to Malaysia (October 29th), we saw several large wading birds at Johor Strait across from Tuas, Singapore. Initially we thought they were herons, upon further examinations of photos taken, they turned out to be lesser adjutants. Lesser adjutant is supposed to be solitary, but we saw three of them waded together. It was close to mating season (November - December), so that could be reason they started to congregate.

We saw two new birds at Jurong Lake Garden two weeks ago: Blue throated bee eater, and Red-wattled lapwing, a single one stood in a trench.

On October 24th, at Pasir Ris Park, we spotted this tiny bird while enjoying evening breeze at the beach. Initially we thought it was a sun bird, but it has uniquely different color patterns on its head - black strips by the eyes, it is Yellow fronted canary (a passerine bird).

Earlier in the year, we saw Scarlet headed flowerpecker on NTU campus. Its calls are bright, high pitch and short

We spotted this cute blue love bird at Pulau Ubin. Love birds typically have green feathers, yellow collar, red beak. The blue love birds are mutations from common love birds, blue feathers, grey/white collar and yellow beak

We saw quite a few new birds during our London trip, we saw European Robin, Common Starling, Egyptian Goose, Bar Headed Goose, Common Moorhen, and Japanese Tit.

 

Blue Throated Bee Eaters At Jurong Lake Gardens

We went to Jurong Lake Gardens again last Saturday afternoon of  (November 5th, 2022). It was cloudy with on and off light drizzles. The gardens were nearly empty,  many birds came out in the open. We spotted lineated barbet, collared kingfisher, egrets, red-wattled lapwing, sun birds, and blue throated bee eaters. 

The blue-throated bee-eater is a species of bird in the bee-eater family. They are found throughout southeast Asia in subtropical or tropical mangrove forests. Their diet consists mostly of bees, wasps, and dragonflies.

The first time we spotted the blue-throated bee eater on a bare tree branch over water, we thought it was a blue tailed bee eater. It was clearly blue-throated bee eater since it has mostly bluish-green body with dark chestnut crown and mantle, black eyestripe and bluish tail (with streamers) and throat.

The tiny bird would perch on the branch, looking around for insects to eat, once an insect was spotted it would take off, flew in an arch trajectory to the target, and then flew back to the same branch to enjoy its prey! Again and again. 

We then spotted another blue-throated bee eater over a tree near allotment garden. This bird behaved very similarly as the earlier spotted bee eater, took off to catch an inset, and return to the same branch to eat the prey. 

Reference 

The sound of the blue throated bee eater. 

Comparison  - Blue Tailed Bee Eater