John Garbutt, Class of 2019 – When is it safe to dream of autumn’s cooler days and colors? Is it perhaps today (early August), a day when Texans rejoiced, for the consecutive streak of twenty-one days over 100 degrees Fahrenheit was broken with an official high temperature of 99 degrees? Or was yesterday the day, when two southbound migrants, a Yellow Warbler and an Empidonax flycatcher, flittered about the foliage running along the creek as I sat and rested after a morning run?
John Garbutt
Observations of a Yellow-crowned Night-Heron Colony
John W. Garbutt, Class of 2019 – March was winding down. The morning was cool, which made for a lovely morning to make another attempt at locating the Cooper’s Hawks’ nest in the riparian area of the park. I finally found it on the 26th. It turned out that the Hawks were renovating the previous year’s construction. Excited with the discovery, I decided to head down the path to scout where the Yellow-crowned Night-Heron pair nested the previous year near the creek.
Birding the Seasonal Shift – May 12, 2023
John W. Garbutt, 2019 – I have always disliked the end of the year and the subsequent arrival of spring. I like fall and winter. Time seems to slow down from October through December until the last week of the year. Then the next few months seem to go quickly. Perhaps this is some deeper psychological problem for those born on January 1st, which could only be understood after a call to Dr. Crane.
Birding has slowly, secretly, made me long for the change in seasons.
Wintering Ducks
John W Garbutt, 2019 – I struggled on how to approach doing an article for the newsletter. I initially wanted to do one on ducks and the seasonal shift that brings them down in autumn. I also switched the theme from my enjoyment of them, my approach to photographing them, and interspersing information about the ducks into the text. After countless rewrites, this is mostly just the facts Joe Friday style.
Winter Ducks at Russell Creek Park
By John Garbutt, 2014 To some, winter and Uri are now four letter words never to be spoken again as we enter spring. As a birder, the harbinger of spring,… Read More →
The Continuing Chronicles of the Commons Cooper’s
By: John Garbutt Watching the five Cooper’s Hawks fledge in mid-June under their mother’s watchful eyes seems like years ago. After that moment, I figured I had possibly seen the… Read More →
John Garbutt – Mississippi Kites
After the birding doldrums of August, I longed for a change in the wind and the early signs of fall songbird migration. I ventured out on September 6th to Frisco… Read More →
John Garbutt – Cooper’s Hawk
A couple of winters previous, I discovered a large nest at one of the local parks. I believed it to be a hawk’s nest based on size and I had… Read More →