Josey Ranch – July 2022 — The 21st Century Matriarch

I only made one early morning trek over to Josey Ranch Lake in Carrollton TX when I was there a few weeks ago but was, as usual, rewarded with bird sightings. The first bird I saw was a Great Egret fishing in the shallows.

And then I noticed a female Mallard and ducklings!

I walked around the sidewalk and onto the boardwalk which was high and dry…the lake lowered by the heat and lack of rain.

There was a rabbit in an area that had once been mud!

The many cattails were not standing in shallow water; in some areas other plants were beginning to take over. I photographed a stand that was still in mud and looked relatively health although they didn’t have as many seed stalks as usual.

The boardwalk provided a different perspective/lighting for the birds. The egret seemed to glow in the morning sun.

There was a small bump that turned out to be a Green Heron hunting for breakfast. It looked small and I wondered if it was a 2022 bird. I had seen juvenile green herons at Josey Ranch back in June 2018 and there could have been a successful nest this year too. The snag standing among the cattails that the green herons frequented in previous years was gone.

There was a Swan further away – preening.

I walked further along the concrete path to the second boardwalk for a better look at the muddy area exposed by the receding lake.

The Grackles were about…noisy. The juveniles were still squawking to be fed even though they also were finding tidbits for themselves.

There were small birds moving about…zooming in I saw that they were Killdeer! Did they nest here this year?

Further out where the water took over, the Mallard and her 6 ducklings were still feeding…and were close enough to capture in one frame. I didn’t see any turtles in the lake this time; maybe that is why so many of the ducklings survived!