Feb. 20th Trinity River Audubon Center

[Mary Lee]

Saturday, Feb. 20th we have a field trip to the Trinity River Audubon Center in the south east section of Dallas. This place is amazing. All the building have been made of recycled material and the land itself was reclaimed. It had formerly been an illegal dump site. Now it's a beautiful place right on the Trinity River. It also has wonderful sparrow habitat.

After spending a few hours at the Trinity River Audubon Center we will go the Rogers Wildlife Rehabilitation Center and look at their facility.

Location: Trinity River Audubon Center and Rogers Wildlife Rehabilitation Center

When: Saturday, Feb. 20th

Where: We will meet at 7:15 AM in the parking lot of the Walmart (2225 West Interstate 20, Grand Prairie, TX 75052) at I-20 and Hwy 360 in Grand Prairie. Park near the service road for I-20. We will carpool from there.

Leader: Mary Lee Johnson (Ben Jones will lead us at TRAC)

Trip Details: This will be a 1/2 - 3/4 day trip. We will carpool from the meeting place in Grand Prairie to Dallas. For those who would like to meet us at TRAC the address is: 6500 South Loop 12, Dallas, TX 75217.
Please dress appropriately for the weather. Suggested items to bring: water, snacks, hat, bug spray.

Please RSVP to me (contact info below) so I know how many people will be joining us and so that we don't leave the meeting location before everyone has arrived.

TRAC normally charges an entry fee but it has been waived for our group. Hope to see all of you there!

[Mary Lee]

The field trip to the Trinity River Audubon Center was great. The weather cooperated (although it was a bit dreary) and so did the birds. See below for a full list. Many thanks to Ben Jones for opening early and showing us around.

The 2nd half of the trip was a visit to the Rogers Wildlife Rehabilitation Center. What an amazing place! Upon entering the main building we saw many cages of animals in varying states of recuperation. We also saw many 'resident' birds that were not in cages. They were perched in various places around the room. There was an immature yellow-crowned night heron, Andrew a young cattle egret along with his parents, a little blue heron, a barn owl named Forest (as in Gump) and a large parrot named Edgar. In the cages were red-tailed hawks, a peregrine falcon, a harris's hawk, a yellow-billed cuckoo, eight eastern screech owls sitting in a line, lots of doves of all species, a golden-fronted woodpecker and a black swan. They were being fed - mice and raw meat. Outside we watched the Great Blue Herons being called to supper. At least 10 showed up and all were fed mice. Turkeys, geese, ducks and peacocks wandered the grounds and in many large cages, all protected from the wind and furnished with heat lamps were more raptors (a cage full of American Kestrels), roadrunners, black vultures, owls - barn, great horned and barred, pelicans, chickens that had been seized by the SPCA, and much more. There are even some emus and a few llamas.

Kathy Rogers has been helping injured animals for 30 years but now focuses strictly on birds. No bird in need is ever turned away. Hers is the only rehabilitaion center in the Metroplex (to my knowledge). Today she said that during spring time there are at least 50 birds (mostly nestlings and fledglings) dropped off every day and her center takes in the injured nestlings found at the Rookery at UT Southwestern Medical Center.

I'm sorry that more FWAS members weren't able to visit this amazing place. The good work Kathy does relies on donations and I will be sending mine via Pay Pal from her website. Hope you will, too. http://www.rogerswildlife.org/

Trip list for TRAC:
Gadwall
American Wigeon
Mallard
Ring-necked Duck
Northern Shoveler
Pied-billed Grebe
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Northern Harrier
Red-Tailed Hawk
American Kestrel
American Coot
Killdeer
Wilson's Snipe
Ring-billed Gulls
Belted Kingfisher
Downy Woodpecker
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Eastern Phoebe
Blue Jay
American Crow
Carolina Chickadee
House Wren
Carolina Wren
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
American Robin
Northern Mockingbird
Cedar Waxwings
Orange-crowned Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Field Sparrow
Savannah Sparrow
Fox Sparrow
Lincoln's Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
Harris's Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird
Eastern Meadowlark
Great-tailed Grackle