Dallas Zoo Pictures

Bald Eagle Cam

As if last year's Elephant Cam weren't cool enough, you can now watch streaming video of a Bald Eagle's Nest, complete with chicks! (...eaglets? chicks sounds too common, not regal enough.) However, I am extremely bummed that I missed their hatching.

Do you know what color are Bald Eagle chicks? Neither did I. Check it out!

Incidentally, the latest and greatest in Elephant Cam technology involves attaching cameras to elephants' trunks. Apparently elephants are very skilled filmmakers, as they recently captured some superb footage of tiger cubs. I feel sorry for the tigers, though. With all the Elephant Papparazzi around, they never get a moment's peace.

More Lake Birds

Besides the pelicans and bald eagle, we get to see lots of other birds here at the lake. Below are a few pictures of birds we have seen here recently.

Great Egrets:


Roadrunner (this little guy hopped up on our office windowsill!):

Eastern Bluebird (one of our favorites!):

And last, and certainly least, the Turkey Vulture:

We awaken each morning to the sound of many different songbirds, mainly various sparrows, American Robins, Carolina Wrens, Dark-Eyed Juncos, and lots of others. We also have an assortment of ducks and woodpeckers, as well as owls, Rock and Mourning Doves, Bluejays, Ruby-Throated Hummingbirds, Red-Tailed Hawks, Northern Harriers and an occasional Great Blue Heron or Cooper's Hawk. What a beautiful place to live! We are so blessed to be here.

Sorry the pictures aren't very close-up. Those birds keep spying me, and flying away from me! Perhaps I need a better camera...

The Pelicans Are Back!

There were only 15 or 20 today. In the next few days we should have close to 200 pelicans fly in. They will stay only a day or two, then move on to the Texas coast. A flock that size is hard to miss - the huge white spot on the lake immediately draws your attention! I will try get a picture of the big flock. Last year I forgot my camera in the house. They are fun to watch, and not easily scared so they will let you get fairly close.


I couldn't get close enough to identify these black ducks. They appear all black, but it was difficult to tell. They seem to migrate with the pelicans.

24 Hours Later...

We had one lonely snow pile. And it was near 60 degrees outside.

Ain't Texas grand? Snow or not, you really can't ever pack your shorts away.

**Note: I realize I am posting this late, but these pictures really were taken the day after the snow pictures!

Nature Pictures - Snow at the Lake

This is my favorite tree on our land. It was even more awesome blanketed in snow.

Can you see the snow on the shore across the lake?

The temperature here was in the 70s this weekend, and the trees started to bud. It was 80 degrees on Monday, and the Bradford pears started flowering. It's so strange to see the flowers covered with snow....And every thing in time and under heaven finally falls asleep.
Wrapped in blankets white, all creation shivers underneath.
Still, I notice You when branches crack
And in my breath on frosted glass.
Even now, in death, You open doors for life to enter.
You are Winter...

And every thing that's new has bravely surfaced, teaching us to breathe.
And what was frozen through is newly purposed, turning all things green.
So it is with You, and how You make me new
With every season's change.
And so it will be, as You are recreating me...
Summer...Autumn...Winter...Spring.

---Every Season by Nicole Nordemann

Thank you, Lord, for recreating me. Thank you, Lord, for the beauty of Winter and the promise of Spring.

A Beautiful, Snowy Day!

North Texas today received its annual dusting of snow.

Except, this year, we got several inches of snow!! We can barely contain our excitement!

The snow began just after noon today. Certain we would not even get enough snow to cover the grass, I sent the girls out to enjoy what little there was.

But, lo and behold, an hour and a half later it was still snowing!

After another hour - still snowing! I was in shock by this point.

By this time, we couldn't even see the lake anymore - it's that misty place just beyond the trees.

We discovered that a couple of hours in the snow makes children cold and exhausted. We all cuddled up with some hot chocolate and watched Zathura with Daddy...in the middle of the day! What a treat!

We went next door to play with our neighbors as soon as they got home from school. (They were released early because of the snow. We do that around here.)

After more hot chocolate & warming up, we all came to our house to try the sleds on our long, steep driveway. In case you're wondering why we have sleds, we don't. Our neighbors do, because they're Yankees. And anyway, 2 of the sleds are really pool floats...

Nope, too powdery. The sled just sank into the snow. It worked great with Mr. Dave pulling it, though!

We had a wonderful day playing in the snow together, and more is expected tomorrow. What a blessing! Our Friday co-op has been canceled, no one is working and we are declaring a Snow Day from school! Yea!!!

I was going to include some nature pictures I took today, but I'll post them separately as this is getting quite long!

Bald Eagles

It seems we have new residents here at our home on the lake.

We have grown accustomed to large birds of prey in the trees and skies all around us, primarily red-tailed hawks and northern harriers. And a lot of turkey vultures.

This week King Louie noticed 2 large birds flying overhead. They were dark, with white heads & tails. We decided they must be bald eagles, because, what other bird has a 6-7 foot wingspan and a white head and tail? Still, they were too high for us to tell for certain and our brains were hesitant to believe we were actually seeing bald eagles here at our home! Neither of us had ever seen a bald eagle in the wild, and we've lived in Texas all our lives.

This weekend we saw one come back. He skimmed the lake with his talons, grabbed a fish and alighted (Can a bird that big alight? Perhaps that's the wrong word...) in a tree between our house and the lake. Determined to get solid evidence, I cautiously approached him with my camera. I took quite a few pictures. He wasn't afraid of me at all, and let me get about 30 yards away before he flew off. This may be because he was trying to finish his dinner! You can see his lovely fish in his right talon, against the tree.

It is easy to see why our nation has selected the bald eagle as its national bird. They are truly awesome creatures to see, especially in flight. This bird is wonderfully majestic; proud and strong; and extremely powerful. It is unfortunate they are no longer abundant in our land.

I hope you are able to see one for yourself one day, in "real life." They are incredible!

P.S. I do apologize for the mulitple postings here, and the terrible formatting around the pictures. I tried several times, but cannot for the life of me get the text to format properly around the pictures. You'll just have to wing it. (pun intended)