Bird Walk at the Connemara Meadow Preserve

The Connemara Meadow Preserve consists of 72 acres of former farm land in Plano. The Montgomery family donated the land to the Connemara Conservancy to protect the land in its natural state for future generations.

Initially, the land was open to the public, but it became a dog park for nearby residents. The meadow was closed to the public and is now open only for guided educational tours. The Conservancy is currently looking for ways to re-open the land to the public. For more information go to http://www.connemaraconservancy.org/

Below are photos from the January 3 Bird Walk. Note, there are more photos of the land than birds because land and plants are more cooperative subjects for this amateur photographer.

The bird experts said we saw 41 species. I am not sure I saw half of them.

Sunrise on the Meadow.

Two American Goldfinches and an Eastern Bluebird.

Another American Goldfinch.

The meadow will be alive with color in a few months when the wildflowers come into bloom, however I think the various shades of gold and brown are just as beautiful.

Goldenrod.

A Sparrow. We saw four species and I am not sure which one this is.

Double Crested Cormorants, American Wigeons, and possibly some other water birds I cannot identify.

The birds got tired of being watched, but left some nice scenery.

I was a photographing the big three winged, one legged bird and also got a shot of a real bird. This is probably the Great Blue Heron that was flying around.