The Trinity River Audubon Center (TRAC) is in south Dallas. This spring it is lush with wildflowers, other  vegetation, insects, and birds. May and June are prime mating season for painted buntings and other perching birds.

There are numerous, well-groomed, easy trails, several ponds and streams, a bird blind, and, of course, the Trinity River. The area is part of the Great Trinity Forest. A trail map is available to download on the Web site listed above.

There is no cost to enter the TRAC, but you must reserve a ticket ahead of time and check in upon arrival.

LUNCH: 11:30 a.m.

• The Market Café at Bonton Farms
  6911 Bexar Street
  Dallas, TX 75215

• 214-777-7703

If you decide to leave TRAC early, there is a nice coffee shop next to the restaurant where you can hang out until time for lunch. This is a unique and enjoyable restaurant that has some outdoor features you may enjoy exploring: a large organic garden where they raise produce for the restaurant, chickens that produce eggs for the restaurant, and goats.

Center Rules

• Please pre-register online (https://trinityriver.audubon.org/) prior to the date of arrival, and check in at front desk upon arrival.

• You must provide your own water bottle.

• Trail open hours may be adjusted - be sure to check park hours before you visit.

The following are prohibited at the Center and surrounding grounds:

• Horses, dogs, or other animals except service animals (please see our polices below)

• Bicycles on trails (biking is permitted on the City of Dallas Great Trinity Forest Trail and AT&T Trail which connects near our center)

• Smoking or campfires

• Hunting, camping, and fishing

• Specimen collecting of any kind without a permit

• Alcohol and other intoxicants

• Motorized vehicles of any kind or size beyond the parking lot

• Fireworks, firearms, or any other weapons (enforced by Dallas Police Department)

• Swimming, walking, or boating in ponds

• Parking on the grass 

• Professional photography without a permit

• Drone photography/video

Other Guidelines:

• There are both venomous and non-venomous snakes on the premises. They are protected by state law. If you encounter any snake, give it wide berth and leave it alone.

• Poisonous plants, including poison ivy, are on the property. Know what poison ivy looks like and avoid it.

• Do not attempt to touch, befriend, feed, or help any wild animal you encounter while on the trails. Please notify the front desk of any injured animals.

• Stay on designated trails and specifically avoid areas where vegetation could be impacted. Walk in the middle of the trail, even when wet or muddy. Avoid walking on vegetation as it widens the trail and contributes to erosion.

• Please supervise your children and children within your care at all times. Guests under the age of 16 must be accompanied at all times by an adult. 

• Picnics are permitted in designated picnic areas only.

• Shoes are required at all times both indoors and outdoors.

• Please do not litter. Dispose of your trash and recycling in the appropriate receptacles found on the trails or around the center.

• Guests who do not adhere to staff and center guidelines may be refused entry into and/or removed from premises for the safety of visitors and staff.

WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT:

Wildflower photography! Native prairie! Birds! Bugs!

From Texas Highways: “Researchers say 99 percent of the Blackland Prairie habitat that once covered 15 million acres has been lost. What remains exists in mostly small chunks. Clymer Meadow Preserve contains one of the largest contiguous remaining pieces.

Even more remarkably, no plow blade has ever cut through the soil on some sections of the property. Its gently rolling land, pockmarked by micro-topography—wetlands just a few meters wide perched atop hillsides—acts as a laboratory for researchers studying everything from monarch butterflies to water quality.”

WHEN:

• Meet for a late lunch/early dinner at 3:30 pm in Blue Ridge, TX. (The exact location is TBD, depending on how many people register.

• Our approved entry time at the preserve is 5:00 pm. (Sunset is 8:20 pm.)

EQUIPMENT:

Dress to protect yourself from scratchy weeds and chiggers, chiggers and chiggers (DEET has been suggested if you are comfortable using it. Heavy doses suggested!) Snakes possible. Tall boots are recommended.

 Tripod and lens selections appropriate for flower, bird, and bug photography.

 Water, hat, sunscreen (very little shade available).

IMPORTANT TO KNOW:

The terrain is not level and is very uneven, with trip hazards. On-site, each participant must sign the Nature Conservancy’s Liability Release and acknowledge their photography policy (no selling of images, etc.)

Joint Heard & Plano Photography Clubs Field Trip

If you are a member of both the Heard Nature Photography Club and the Plano Photography Club, please only sign up with one of the clubs (not both).

Trip Leaders

• Heard Trip Leader: Jackie Ranney

• Plano Trip Leader: Mary Ruhle

Irwin Lightstone has invited members of the Heard Nature Photographers to come to the Dallas Arboretum on March 21, 2025, at 7:00 a.m. We will be joining the Plano Photography Club members who will also be there. Irwin has once again used his connections to get us access to the Dallas Arboretum early in the morning to photograph tulips and all the other beautiful plants on display. THANK YOU, IRWIN!!

During this time window, any member of the Plano Photography Club and/or the Heard Nature Photographers attending with our group may walk and photograph the grounds of the Arboretum. Tripods will be allowed until 9:00 a.m.

Details

1. REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED for this event.

2. There is no limit on the number of PPC or HNPC members who can attend.

3. Attendees must park in the lot accessible at the Gate 1 entrance (located at the intersection of Garland Road and Whittier).

4. Attendees MUST be physically present at the Main Entrance of the Arboretum by 7:00 AM; please plan to arrive a few minutes early so that members can enter as a group

5. Attendees will be admitted onto the grounds as a group; any individual who arrives at the Main Entrance after the group enters the Arboretum may be denied admission.

6. Attendees will be allowed to use their tripods until 9:00 AM (when the Arboretum opens to the public); no tripods may be used after that time.

7. Attendees may remain at the Arboretum after 9:00 AM and continue taking photographs for as long as they wish, subject to item (6) above.

8. There are no official lunch or brunch plans, but some people will almost certainly get together after the shoot; this will be decided on-site.

9. Typically, when Irwin takes groups like this, there is no entry charge.  However, Irwin advises that we should be prepared to pay an entrance fee should it be required. (In the past, for Irwin’s early morning groups, the ticketing kiosk has not been staffed.)

As a condition of providing access under these terms to the Plano Photography Club /Heard Nature Photographers Club, the Dallas Arboretum is requesting copies of five (5) photographs captured by each attendee.

Plano: Details will be communicated when we collect images for display on the club website.

Heard:  Details will be communicated with a Call for Images after the event.

We have permission to enter the Refuge 30 minutes before sunrise! This gives us time to determine where each of us wants to be to photograph the sunrise and get set up. The geese are there, too. (6,000 of them on 12/11/2024). After shooting sunrise, we’re off to photograph the geese in flight, on land and in the water and multitudes of other waterfowl and hopefully, other wildlife! Just watching the geese take off en masse is amazing – the sights, the sounds!!!

Most of the Refuge is open. (In the Godwin Unit, Meyers Unit and the Big Mineral Unit below the railroad, squirrel and rabbit hunts will be in progress). There are lots of places to investigate for hiking and/or photography.

Each participant is free to choose their own location for shooting sunrise and we’ll encounter each other multiple times during the day rather than meeting in one specific place.

There is no cost to enter the Refuge.

LUNCH @ 11:30 a.m.

• Frank’s
  80841 TX 289
  Pottsboro, TX

EQUIPMENT:

• Dress for the weather!

•  Long lens

•  Extra batteries

•  Water

 Might want to stop by the Visitor Center at one point for a Refuge map.

Date/Time:

• Saturday, November 23, 2024

•  4:00 p.m. Early group dinner in Fort Worth (location TBD) – attendance optional

•  5:30 p.m. Entry into the event (see notes below)

•  9:30 p.m. Event over; gardens close at 10:00 p.m.

About Lightscape:

The third annual Lightscape event is a spectacular collaboration with Sony Music. This extraordinary show features custom-designed light installations with breathtaking, never-before-seen artistic displays from around the globe, immersing guests in the magic of the holiday season.

Tickets:

Our ideal entry time is 5:30 p.m. If Lightscape:Advanced tickets are sold out for that time period, check the closest available entry time. There are approximately 300 tickets for each time period. Since the event’s inception three year ago, it has totally sold out; an early purchase is encouraged.

An entry ticket and a parking pass are needed unless you choose to carpool with someone who has purchased a parking pass.

Parking passes:  Once you enter your ticket choice, the website takes you to the option to purchase a parking pass.

Important:

You need to purchase your ticket from the Ft. Worth Botanical Gardens AND register for the clubs Field Trip. That’s the only way we’ll know you’re attending.

Please familiarize yourself with the information on their website, especially the FAQ’s. https://fwbg.org/calendar-events/signature-events/lightscape/lightscape-faqs/

Photography Policy:

 No tripods, monopods or drones.

100,000 pumpkins, gourds and squash, hailing from THE pumpkin capital of Texas, Floydada, and 150,000 beautiful fall blooming plants throughout the garden. This year, the Pumpkin Village will feature the theme “Texas Town,” taking visitors on a journey through Texas pioneer life. 

Where We’ll Meet

Meet at the fountains outside of the main ticket entrance. Have patience and anticipate lots of visitors!!

Dallas Arboretum Members – Free Admission & Parking (Advance reservation not required)

 Non-members – advance reservations & parking fee are required.

Note that some of our club members have an Arboretum membership and are willing to share, please let Jackie know.

If you would like to take advantage of a member’s generosity, please let Jackie know.

Tickets: https://tickets.dallasarboretum.org/events/419e73b3-3ebc-eafb-62f6-3f3a6c08d4da

Parking: https://tickets.dallasarboretum.org/events/8fb986fc-1268-5390-eeac-eaf4ba48b425

For those who wish to carpool, please meet in the parking lot at the WalMart on Coit, just north of the George Bush Tollway. We will depart promptly at 8:00 a.m. It would be helpful to know ahead of time if you wish to participate!

Please register on our club website to attend this field trip. That’s it! If you have questions, as always just call me!

The Blackland Prairie Raptor Center has offered members of the Heard Nature Photographers Club an exceptional opportunity at the Center….. not only will we be able to photograph their education ambassadors but to take a behind-the-scenes tour of the rehabilitation area.

The normal cost for doing both is $125.00. ($75 for the photography time and $50 for the tour). Our cost for both is $50 per person!!!

Schedule:

• 6:00 a.m. Arrive at the Center and check in at the Visitor Center. You will have a little time to photograph the pond and the lake at sunrise.

• 6:45am - 7:45am Photo Time & 8:00am - 8:45am Tour**
  **Space is limited

Brunch

For those who choose to participate, we will determine a location for after-the-event conversation and camaraderie.

How Do I Pay for My Entrance Fee

Use this link to pay your fee (not the normal link showing on their website).

https://crm.bloomerang.co/HostedDonation?ApiKey=pub_19f59686-0d7d-11ef-b2a8-0a3287177f03&WidgetId=65536

Note: you must also register on the club website.

Important Notice

Per the Blackland Prairie Raptor Center, if you take photographs inside the rehabilitation areas, they are not to be sold, not to be published in any type of social media and not to be entered into any contest at any point in time. They may be shown in the Club’s slideshow. Photographs taken during “photo time” are not covered by this limitation.

Note: Mosquitoes/chiggers may be an issue this time of year. Please prepare for these possibilities.

Trout Lilies usually start blooming at the Heard in the middle of February. After our February meeting, we will head down the Hoot Owl trail to check them out. Remember, admission to the Heard is free for photo club members on meeting day.

After photographing the trout lilies, we will head to the Great Outdoor Sub shop at 1751 Eldorado Parkway in McKinney, just a few minutes from the Heard.

The trout lilies or weather may not cooperate with our plans. The theme for our March video will be trout lilies. Get out to the Heard and photograph them when it is convenient for you. Images will be due to Ron Marabito at rmarabito@gmail.com on March 1.

You can register for the event at heardnaturephotographers.com.

Questions? Contact Steven Earles.