Josey Ranch – August 2025

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While I was in Dallas in August, I made an early trip to the pocket prairie and lake at Josey Ranch in Carrollton – a place I visited frequently before we moved my parents to assisted living in January 2024.

There didn’t seem to be very many birds around, so I started my visit at the pocket prairie. The trash cans looked freshly painted, and the gardens looked like they had been recently weeded (piles of vegetation waiting to be picked up). Some of the flowers had gone to seed but that is normal for August. There were marshmallows that were surviving in the rain garden area. The sunflowers dominate but I was glad to see Texas rock rose among the plantings.

I went back to look at the lake and realized that there were not many grackles (I heard several…only saw one)…pigeons were about as numerous as always…only two ducks and one was a white domestic duck. The only birds I saw in the pond were one great egret and one snowy egret. The two swans were still there. Evidently there were a lot of geese there recently judging from the goose poop on the sidewalks. It was depressing that there weren’t more birds around and I wondered what happened.

I noticed more trash in the water – a foam cup, plastic bags, and sheen on the water near the shore. Is there more pollution in the pond now? I saw one turtle snout from a distance. Overall, the pond does not look as healthy as it was a few years ago. I took a few pictures of feathers in the grass.

As I walked to the plantings between the library and senior center, I noticed a tree that was planted in memory of someone. It was about 6 feet from the sidewalk….a Bur Oak! I was surprised that it was planted so close to the sidewalk…maybe the climate in Texas will cause it to not get as big as Bur Oaks usually grow.

I looked for the beautyberry that seemed to thrive previously in that area, but they were gone. One of the new plants was a rock rose. The morning was warming up but I didn’t see many insects.

It was a little depressing that the wildlife that used to be around the area seems to be reduced. Maybe I was there at an odd time….I’ll try to look again later this year when the birds that typically winter in Texas might be around.