Tree A

Joe’s Creek and the Northaven Park lands are graced with a variety of native and non-native trees and shrubs. Identification can be challenging in winter due to the absence of foliage; however, several species have distinctive bark or other features that offer excellent clues. With the aid of descriptions drawn from Texas Trees, A Friendly Guide, by Paul W. Cox and Patty Leslie, one can learn to recognize many of these species, and also learn how earlier generations of Texans valued and used trees in their daily lives. In the spirit of this excellent guide, below is a friendly (and potentially rewarding) quiz that one can take from an armchair observation point while the weather is not so friendly!

Click on each photo for a larger view.

Tree B

Tree C

Tree D

Tree E

Tree F

Tree G – Bark

Tree G – Structure

Tree H – Bark

Tree H – Structure

Tree I

Tree J

 

We are pleased to announce the winner of the Friendly Tree Quiz: Todd England. Thanks to all who attempted the quiz. View the answers here.

January 2021
Migrating Cedar Waxwings can strip a large shrub of berries in minutes – an impressive if not a messy sight if it occurs in your yard or driveway, but a natural appearing phenomenon along the creek at this time of the year. These sleek and colorful birds, drawn to the creek by the sound of its running water, and shallow areas to bathe, also find abundant food sources. While a flock or swarm of these colorful birds is hard to miss, it can be difficult to see the details of an individual bird – these backyard photos show their distinctive masks, red wing highlights, and perhaps their acrobatic flight and feeding capabilities. Along the creek, Cedar Waxwings appear to rest in the afternoon sun, seemingly fortified for their travels.

Cedar Waxwing Mask

Cedar Waxwing Agility

Cedar Waxwing Speed

April 2020
While daily life changed for everyone in March, flowering trees signaled a normal spring’s arrival along the creek, and the absence of mowers left the impression of a natural meadow in places. Likely April will bring more days just right for walking along the creek, and perhaps broods of mallards in the waters.  Meanwhile sharp eyed kids of all ages can watch this brief video clip of a Mallard and her numerous brood, taken last year. Look sharp for the lone straggler! 

Besides waterfowl, the creek and greenbelt provide habitat for many bird species – the same birds that frequent our backyards, and will be the wildest creatures that we see on a daily basis. In this month of nest building, and in the months to come,these Woodpeckers, Jays, Cardinals, Titmice, Wrens, and Chickadees can bring a lively natural presence to your backyard. All will benefit from feeding stations offering suet, bird seed, or peanuts.

Click here for photos from March Along the Creek

For tips on creating a natural backyard, or front yard habitat, this article from Audubon contains a number of still timely ideas, a link to native plant databases, and practical advice.

Click here to see How To Create a Bird-Friendly Yard

Below: 1. Carolina Wren. 2. Titmouse. 3. Mallard Ducks   

Vince Punaro, Creek Leader and Author
For Creek Leaders Gary Barton, Doug Guiling, and Stu Pauley

March 2020. 

Joe’s Creek hosts a returning population of Mallards – a springtime sighting of a tiny brood of ducklings scurrying to keep up with their mother will delight kids of all ages. These birds and other wildlife are drawn to the creek for its benefits as a natural habitat, and add their own elegant aspect to the Creek. 

Waterfowl represent a success story that contrasts with the long-term declining trend in North American Bird counts. Many species show a marked decline over the last 50 years, as noted in Scientific American last September. Waterfowl have made a resurgence since 1970, due in part to the efforts of conservationists in restoring wetlands. Whether we will continue to hear the sounds of Mallards in the Creek, and the call of wild birds in our own backyards depends upon sustained initiatives both large and small, local and regional, that will protect the environment, and hopefully avoid the “Silent Spring” that Rachel Carson wrote about 50 years ago.

Vince Punaro
For Creek Leaders Gary Barton, Doug Guiling, and Stu Pauley

January 2020.
As we start the new year, let’s remember that we are surrounded by caring neighbors, many developing into close friends, offering comfort and a sense of security in our little hamlet. We are very fortunate to live in one of the most desirable neighborhoods in the city of Dallas with the added bonus of a beautiful creek running through our happy and diverse community.

Recently, several areas of vulgar and anti-Semitic graffiti was discovered painted on the supporting walls outside and under the Alta Vista bridge at Joe’s Creek. Most of us are aware that hate and vandalism is a global concern, but seeing it happen in our neighborhood is alarming. We cannot allow this activity to continue.

Below: The Good. The Bad. The Ugly.

The Dallas Police Department is advising that if you witness individuals suspiciously carrying spray paint cans or actively defacing public property, call 911 immediately.

Related and more frequent is trash being dumped near or into the creek. Joe’s Creek flows into the Trinity River, carrying plastic waste and other pollutants to the gulf where fisheries, waterfowl and other aquatic wildlife are seriously impacted.

What we can do to help now:

• Educate family, friends and others the importance of maintaining a clean environment where you live, work and travel.
• Consider taking a single use (disposable) grocery or trash bag with you to pick up a few pieces of trash when you take your dog for a walk, visit the creek or are just out for a stroll and dispose it properly.

This year, let’s take pride in our neighborhood by protecting the environment and public spaces for everyone to enjoy.

Wishing you a healthy and Happy New Year!
Gary Barton, NPNA Creek Committee

August 2019.

With the arrival of August’s 100-degree days, and little rain in the forecast, the possibility of a dry spell for the creek and its inhabitants increases daily.

Re-watching the Fresh Water episode from BBC’s original Planet Earth series (episode 3, 2006) can be refreshing, and also offers a conservationist perspective for our own small part of the watershed. It’s well worth a relook – in the opening minutes, the narrator, David Attenborough, presents two striking facts:

• Only 3% of the world’s water supply is fresh water. All life on land is ultimately dependent on fresh water.
• Of this small share, much is locked in the polar ice caps, deep underground, or severely polluted. Thus the amount of drinkable water available to all humans is only 0.4 %. Four-tenths of one percent of all water.

Thanks to our Master Naturalist and Creek Leader, Gary Barton, for this reference: What is the Percentage of Drinkable Water on Earth?

Such global considerations certainly merit our interest, and we need look no further than our own Joe’s Creek – the perennial habitat for turtles and toads, waterfowl and dragon flies – to appreciate the importance of protecting water quality by minimizing use of fertilizers, and avoiding inorganic pesticides. Contaminants that enter urban creeks and streams can remain in the watershed, untreated, all the way to the ocean.

The red eared slider shown above seemed to enjoy the clear waters of the creek in April. Let’s work to keep it that way.

Vince Punaro, for the creek leaders

June 2019. 

Wildlife in the city faces an array of hazards, yet in Joe’s Creek and Northaven Park, we are reminded of their persistence, adaptability, and ultimately their ability to thrive. The sighting of a Mallard and her brand new brood in March, numbering 14 tiny creatures, compared with a recent sighting of a Mallard with 5  growing juveniles, which she continued to keep close, illustrates both the challenges and the enduring successes.

Let’s do our part to keep their environment as favorable as possible – use minimal fertilizers and avoid chemical pesticides to preserve water quality; keep dogs under your close supervision when around the creek and its greenbelt. 

Above all, enjoy the natural environment that we are fortunate to have just a short walk from our own yards.

Vince Punaro, for the Creek leaders

May 2019. 

When a glimpse of bright white in the creek bed catches the eye, one hopes its not just more plastic or paper trash. Hopes were rewarded on a recent morning, when the sighting proved to be an elegant bird with wispy feathers on the back of the neck, an impressive black dagger-like beak, black legs, and yellow feet hunting in the clear shallow waters. Alert to the small sounds of leaves crunching or a camera beep, this bird exhibited both quick and deliberate motions. Its presence good evidence for the remaining natural qualities of the creek and for the need to preserve water quality so that wildlife will continue to find a habitat there, or just a rewarding place to visit.

A check with Cornell University’s bird ID app, Merlin, quickly yielded its identity: a Snowy Egret. While this bird spends most of its time in coastal areas, shallows or wetlands, it appears that the Dallas area is on the line between its breeding and migratory range.

For more information, we recommend Cornell’s All About Birds site (link below). Their apt physical description of the bird, however, is worth noting here:

“Among the most elegant of the herons, the slender Snowy Egret sets off immaculate white plumage with black legs and brilliant yellow feet.”

See all the Cool Facts about this bird >>

Vince Punaro

February 2019.

In Northaven Park, we don’t need the groundhog to make a prediction. Early signs of spring, though subtle and small, are easily visible on a walk along the greenbelt. 

The American Elm, one of the first trees to flower here, produces an abundance of small white flowers that provide food for migratory birds, such as the American Goldfinch. Neighbors with feeders in their yards may have noticed a drop in numbers of the finches in attendance; possibly explained by the emergence of flowers like those of the elm. These flowers can be seen on the lower branches of Elms that have sprung up along the banks of the creek.

Also look for small clumps of Grape Hyacinth, a small tubular plant. Its not a native, but seems to have naturalized in places along the creek. The flowers are said to resemble small urns. 

Also starting to naturalize are the shoots of bulb flowers planted near the Alta Vista Bridge and in Cox Lane Park by NPNA’s Park Beautification Team.  

Perhaps one of the most subtle flowers, or pollen cones, is that of the Eastern Red Cedar, which at first glance appears to be just new growth of the foliage.  

We know that it may yet snow or freeze in February or March, but we also know that surely Spring will come.

Below: 1. Daffodils. 2. Grape Hyacinth. 3. Eastern Red Cedar

Vince Punarov, Creek Leader