http://abcnews.go.com/US/north-american-birds-face-extinction-due-climate-change/story?id=39292140

For some reason, Spring Creek Park Preserve is always turning up some unusual bird. Maybe it’s because we visit this park often. Maybe it’s because such diverse habitats attract many species. Whatever the case, Spring Creek is a great birding spot year round. Some of the more unusual sightings include: American Woodcock (11/21/98; 12/27/98; 1/24/99), Blue-winged Warbler (4/5/99), Cerulean Warbler (4/30/98), Golden-cheeked Warbler (5/10/97), Swainson’s Warbler (4/5/99), Hooded Warbler (4/2/99), Bell’s Vireo (5/10-11/97), Grasshopper Sparrow (11/11/98; 4/3/99; 10/10/99), LeConte’s Sparrow, Veery (4/2/99), American Tree Sparrow (3/9/98), Sedge Wrens (4/27/00), and Henslow’s Sparrow (11/18/04).

I flushed a Sora on 10/18/98 from the field. During summer look for Painted and Indigo Buntings, Blue Grosbeak, Yellow-billed cuckoo, Red-eyed Vireo, Scissor-tailed and Great-crested Flycatchers, Western Kingbird, and Swainson’s Hawk.

During winter, sparrows can be abundant, with Harris’s, Swamp, Lincoln’s, Chipping, Field, White-throated, Song, LeConte’s, Savannah, Dark-eyed Junco, and Spotted Towhee. Fox Sparrows are often numerous along the hedgerow that extends northwest of the parking lot. Grasshopper and LeConte’s Sparrows are scarce but regular migrants and winter residents. Also during winter there are Ruby-crowned and Golden-crowned Kinglets, Brown Creepers, Carolina Chickadees, Yellow-rumped Warblers, Hairy Woodpecker, Great-horned and Barred Owls, and others in the woods. Migration here is good also, with several warblers, Olive-sided Flycatcher, Catbird, Clay-colored Sparrow, Blue-headed Vireo, and others. Spring Creek is also great for butterflies during the warm months. Habitat includes remnant rocky prairie with cedar-elm/eastern red cedar islands or copses and bottomland hardwoods with bur, chinquapin, and shumard oaks.

Derek Hill

DH Blog

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ebird list for Spring Creek Preserve and Forest

Dogwood Canyon Audubon Center – both the Golden-Cheeked Warbler and Black-Capped Vireo can see found in this Ashe Juniper ecosystem.  We were in the group that discovered the Golden Cheek Warbler there in 1999. It is noted for these rare species, unlike any other place near Dallas, Texas.

Trinity River Audubon Center – A good urban riparian forest along with open prairie. 220 bird species to date.

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Bird songs for common species such as Carolina Wren, Tufted Titmouse, and White-eyed Vireo were recorded during the summer of 2000 at Spring Creek and can be found on the North American Bird Sounds web site. Also check out

Key to bird calls, songs and sounds from Cornell University.

Audubon Dallas Forum

 “All about birds” – http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/search

 “Hummingbird Gardens – Herbs and Flowers for Hummingbirds” – http://www.herbco.com/t-hummingbird-gardens.aspx   

 Texas Rare Bird Alert

 Join your local Audubon Chapter to meet fellow birders and see more birds:

Audubon Dallas

Prairie and Timbers Audubon

Ft.Worth Audubon

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Ebird List

Hotspot Map

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Birds of Spring Creek Park Preserve

Garland, Dallas County, Texas

Compiled by Jack and Derek Hill

Derek’s Neotropical Migrant Checklist for Prairie Creek

Bird Checklists for Texas

 

* indicates probable nester (nesting behavior has been observed)
Now Available: Seasonal Abundance Checklist of Birds for Spring Creek. E-mail kinglet32@yahoo.com for a free copy.

05/24/2014 Last Update

Double-crested Cormorant White Pelican Great Blue Heron Great Egret Snowy Egret Little Blue Heron Green Heron Wood Stork (flyover) Sandhill Crane (flyover) Black Vulture Turkey Vulture Greater White-fronted Goose Canada Goose Mallard Wood Duck Hooded Merganser Northern Pintail Blue-winged Teal Northern Harrier Sharp-shinned Hawk Cooper’s Hawk Broad-winged Hawk Red-shouldered Hawk* Swainson’s Hawk Red-tailed Hawk* Fuertes (fuertesi)* Eastern (borealis) Western (calurus) Harlan’s (harlani) American Kestrel Mississippi Kite Merlin Northern Bobwhite Sora Killdeer Solitary Sandpiper Spotted Sandpiper American Woodcock Ring-billed Gull Franklin’s Gull (flyover) Rock Dove Mourning Dove* White-Winged Dove Greater Roadrunner Yellow-billed Cuckoo* Great-horned Owl* Barred Owl* Eastern Screech-Owl* Common Nighthawk Chuck-Will’s-Widow Chimney Swift Ruby-throated Hummingbird Black-chinned Hummingbird* Belted Kingfisher* Pileated Woodpecker Red-bellied Woodpecker* Red-headed Woodpecker Yellow-bellied Sapsucker Downy Woodpecker* Hairy Woodpecker* Northern Flicker Olive-sided Flycatcher Eastern Wood-Pewee Alder Flycatcher Least Flycatcher Eastern Phoebe* Great-crested Flycatcher* Western Kingbird* Eastern Kingbird* Scissor-tailed Flycatcher* Horned Lark Loggerhead Shrike* Red-eyed Vireo White-eyed Vireo Warbling Vireo Bell’s Vireo Blue-headed Vireo Blue Jay* American Crow* Purple Martin Barn Swallow Cliff Swallow N.Rough-winged Swallow Carolina Chickadee* Tufted Titmouse*

Brown Creeper Carolina Wren* House Wren Winter Wren Bewick’s Wren Sedge Wren White-breasted Nuthatch* Red-breasted Nuthatch Golden-crowned Kinglet Ruby-crowned Kinglet Blue-gray Gnatcatcher Veery Swainson’s Thrush Hermit Thrush American Robin Eastern Bluebird Mountain Bluebird 2007 Gray Catbird Northern Mockingbird* Brown Thrasher* American Pipit Cedar Waxwing Prothonotary Warbler Blue-winged Warbler Orange-crowned Warbler Nashville Warbler Northern Parula * Yellow Warbler Yellow-rumped “Myrtle” Warbler Yellow-rumped “Audubon’s” Warbler Bay-breasted Warbler Cerulean Warbler Golden-cheeked Warbler Black-throated Green Warbler Blackburnian Warbler Pine Warbler Black-and-white Warbler American Redstart Chestnut-sided Warbler Common Yellowthroat Hooded Warbler Wilson’s Warbler Prairie Warbler Canada Warbler Swainson’s Warbler Ovenbird Louisiana Waterthrush Northern Waterthrush Yellow-breasted Chat Summer Tanager Spotted Towhee Eastern Towhee American Tree Sparrow Chipping Sparrow Clay-colored Sparrow Field Sparrow Vesper Sparrow Savannah Sparrow Grasshopper Sparrow Le Conte’s Sparrow Lark Sparrow Fox Sparrow Song Sparrow Lincoln’s Sparrow Swamp Sparrow White-throated Sparrow Harris’s Sparrow Henslow’s Sparrow White-crowned Sparrow Dark-eyed Junco Smith’s Longspur Lapland Longspur Northern Cardinal* Rose-Breasted Grosbeak Blue Grosbeak Indigo Bunting* Painted Bunting* Dickcissel* Red-winged Blackbird Western Meadowlark Common Grackle Great-tailed Grackle Orchard Oriole Baltimore Oriole House Finch* Purple Finch Red Crossbill (flyover) Pine Siskin American Goldfinch House Sparrow

Although the Leconte’s and Grasshopper Sparrow are not on the Texas Watch List, they are prairie-dependent

birds on the decline.

Total: 170 species.

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See Events, Nature Notes & Weather for recent birding events as well as field reports from Prairie Creek, a tributary to Spring Creek in Richardson, Texas. Visit the Texbirds Reference Page at http://www.moonmountaingroup.com/texbirds. For good birding spots are Dallas click here on maps used on old Birding Texas site:

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Photos by Ben Cox

Lincoln’s Sparrow

Harris’s Sparrow

Lincoln’s Sparrow Fox Sparrow

Savannah Sparrow

Northern Flicker

Brown Thrasher

Eastern Bluebird

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Rare visitor seen upstream of Spring Creek Preserve and Forest…

Photo of Rock Wren taken at Spring Creek Natural Area, located in Richardson near Plano Road and Renner. The bird has been observed by several folks over the period of several weeks, with the last reported observation several years ago in December. Taken by Dede Crusinberry.