Hot day off at Dixieland Park and Tiocano Lake

First thing this morning I took the three dogs to Dixieland Park. They're great about sticking around, but there were two fishermen, a guy walking a husky, two guys playing disc golf...so I just stuck to the edge of the reservoir. 1 Jackrabbit (the dogs didn't even see it), 2 Mexican Ground Squirrels (they don't see these either, but like to sniff at their entrance holes), Black-bellied Whistling-Duck 75, Pied-billed Grebe 8, Neotropic Cormorant 1, Great Egret 2, Snowy Egret 6, Green Heron 4, Yellow-crowned Night-Heron 3, Osprey 1, Killdeer 2, Spotted Sandpiper 2, Least Sandpiper 2, Laughing Gull 6, Rock Pigeon 60, White-winged Dove 40, Mourning Dove 6, Golden-fronted Woodpecker 1, Great Kiskadee 1, Loggerhead Shrike 1, Purple Martin 1, Northern Mockingbird 1, Red-winged Blackbird 20, Great-tailed Grackle 50, Bronzed Cowbird 3, House Sparrow 3.

Tiocano Lake at about 1pm, I arrived to find it very dry-- almost dried up. The Wood Storks were gone, but there were still a few birds left: Great Egret 6, Snowy Egret 2, Little Blue Heron, White-faced Ibis, Turkey Vulture, Crested Caracara, a dozen Black-necked Stilts, five Long-Billed Curlews (right on time), lots of sandpipers including Least, Stilt and Long-Billed Dowitchers, only 4 Laughing Gulls and a juvenile Gull-billed Tern, only 6 Rock Pigeons but lots of Mourning Doves, a Yellow-billed Cuckoo and the requisite bunch of Red-winged Blackbirds and Great-tailed Grackles. It was worth it though. Where else can you go when you only have a few minutes, AND stay air-conditioned?!