DUNCANVILLE, TEXAS — December has been warm. It was 80 degrees on Friday, and Saturday was nearly as hot. I’ve managed a few short birding trips over the last few days, and I’ve seen some good birds.

Monday, I nearly froze during a picnic lunch at Cedar Hill State Park — a cold front had briefly invaded, dropping temperatures into the 30s. A Forster’s Tern fed over the water, calling occasionally. A White-winged Dove fluttered around in the mesquite trees — surprising only because I usually see them in cities and suburbs this far north.

Several dozen Pine Siskins fed in the trees, calling and flitting around.

I had seen them a week earlier, on Monday the third, when I made a morning visit to the park. They are hanging out with House Finches and goldfinches, feeding on sunflower and ragweed heads and, apparently, hackberry fruits. I haven’t been able to spot any Purple Finches or, ahem, redpolls among the flock.

Harris’s Sparrows are present, vocal, and looking fine — oh yes.

Also on the third, I had a male Ladder-backed Woodpecker feeding in the mesquite brush at Joe Pool dam. I had heard that the species ranges as far east as Dallas County, but it was my first encounter with the species here. I was pretty excited. His crest caught the sun and practically glowed. Nice.

Saturday, I birded roads south of Wilmer in southern Dallas County, where I found a few Brewer’s Blackbirds and Eurasian Collared Doves.

Farther south, around Bardwell Lake west of Ennis, I had about 100 white pelicans, several Forster’s Terns, and a flock of about 40 American Pipits. Despite walking several grassy areas, I didn’t find any longspurs or Sprague’s Pipits, but I did do pretty well with sparrows: Swamp (gorgeous), Lincoln’s (exquisite), Song, Savannah, White-crowned, Harris’s, and Field.

Today was wet, warm, and muggy. I watched a gull fly past my office window. I think it’s supposed to get colder again overnight — please!

DALLAS, TEXAS — Yesterday, the wind changed. For days, the wind had been hot, coming from the south. By noon, all the flags were pointing east; by 4 p.m., the air felt different, cooler, and the wind rushed down from the north. Crunchy leaves skittered over asphalt. It felt almost like autumn.

This morning, I found several hundred winter-plumaged Franklin’s Gulls at Joe Pool Lake. Most floated in a tight raft on the water. When something sent them swirling into the air, it was like looking into a snow globe. According to eBird graphs, huge numbers of Franklin’s Gulls pass through between mid-October and mid-November in a spike that trails off sharply by Nov. 15.

Thousands of coots feed on the hydrilla in the coves, and slowly the numbers and diversity of other waterfowl are building. I had Canvasbacks, Lesser Scaup, and Ring-necked Ducks for the first time this season, plus wigeons and Blue-winged Teal. Cormorant and Ring-billed Gull numbers are picking up too.

I heard American Goldfinches for the first time this season, and pipits and Savannah Sparrows are around. Otherwise, though, wintering passerines are just not around. I have yet to encounter a White-throated Sparrow this year, and Yellow-rumps are very sparse. Where are the flocks of juncos? Or the flocks of kinglets? The brush is silent and still.

People in other parts of the state are also complaining about the lack of wintering birds, and some have theorized that the mild autumn hasn’t yet pushed them south this year.

This is our third or fourth cool front this fall, but we’re still nowhere close to a frost. So far, seven days this month have hit 80 degrees or higher. Before the cool front came through yesterday, we reached a high of 82. Wow.

DUNCANVILLE, TEXAS — A cool front came through earlier this week, and the weather is much more tolerable — now it’s only in the 80s! This morning, with a temperature near 60, I decided to see whether any winter residents had arrived yet.

They have!

• Double-crested Cormorant - 35 in a V headed south
• American Coot - several hundred (numbers have rather suddenly exploded)
• Northern Flicker - 4 (No, flickers don’t generally breed here, but they are common in winter.)
• Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 3 (To see my first kinglet brought a smile.)
• American Pipit - 3 (Only two previous reports in the state this season, but today they were seen in several places.)
• Savannah Sparrow - 7

I still can’t find a Sabine’s Gull at Joe Pool Lake (or much of anything, other than coots), but I did see a flock of about 20 Monk Parakeets fly by. They are well established in the surrounding areas, but I hadn’t seen them from the dam before. With a yellow sea of broomweed behind them, their greens and blues were spectacular.

DUNCANVILLE, TEXAS — Before my unsuccessful twitch yesterday, I birded Cedar Ridge Preserve and Village Creek Drying Beds. White-eyed Vireos were plentiful and vocal at Cedar Ridge. Residents included cardinals, Blue Jays, chickadees, and Carolina and Bewick’s wrens. Other migrants were one Great Crested Flycatcher and one Nashville Warbler — a brightly plumaged male even showing hints of an orange crown.

I found the drying beds — a favorite spot when I lived in Arlington two years ago — unlocked and full of birders. Fort Worth Audubon was on a field trip. Water was very high in all the units, so there was practically no shorebird habitat. Egrets littered the fringes of the pools, and a Red-shouldered Hawk flew over, showing off gorgeous plumage.

Black-bellied Whistling Ducks were conspicuous. A pair (or more?) of adults kept flying around and squealing, and a group of about 10 juveniles huddled close together, which made me suspect that a pair had bred here or nearby. I also saw a pair of Mallards, several dozen Blue-winged Teal (some of the earliest migrants), and a single Northern Shoveler. Pied-billed Grebes were also plentiful, and I’d imagine that they breed here too.

As I walked in the general direction of a photographer from the FWAS group, I heard a warbler song. “Yellow?” I wondered. A moment later, the man hailed me and said he was trying to photograph a pair of “Common Yellow Warblers.”

“I heard one singing,” I said.

“That was my phone,” he said.

Oh, how embarrassing. He was trying to lure the birds out into the open for a picture. He kept talking, and I soon realized that the birds he was actually after were Common Yellowthroats, not Yellow Warblers. Perhaps one reason that they hadn’t responded to the cell phone.

After he left, I did get a look at a young male yellowthroat, but I couldn’t find the Sora that the group had seen just before I arrived. And later, I did find a real Yellow Warbler too.

A Swainson’s Hawk joined a kettle of Black Vultures overhead.

Before I left Arlington, I checked out the unit of River Legacy Park on north Cooper, and I found water in the wetland that was dry two years ago. There were Red-shouldered Hawks and Turkey Vultures in the area, but no water birds that I could see. Nearby, however, I found a flooded patch of woodland with several migrants: Wilson’s Warbler, Nashville Warbler, Yellow Warbler, and White-eyed Vireo.

At Tawakoni, I didn’t do much other than look for the Sabine’s Gull and jaeger that had been seen earlier in the day. As I have already related, I was not successful. I did, however, see several Ospreys, one of which plunged into the lake and came up with a fish. There was a distant flock of several dozen American White Pelicans — what a combination of ungainliness and grace!

Of course, I had to make a pilgrimage to the giant spider web that’s been making news and attracting thousands of visitors to the park. The glory days of the phenomenon are over, but it’s still a weird and eerie sight, calling to mind images from the Wizard of Oz or countless other stories. For photos and information about the “happening,” to borrow a term from the arts, see the link above.

DUNCANVILLE, TEXAS — I birded this morning, and when I got home, there was news. Sabine’s Gull and immature jaeger at Lake Tawakoni State Park. I gulped lunch and hopped back in the car.

It was very uncharacteristic, but it felt so good.

It would have felt even better if I had actually SEEN the birds in question, but neither one made an appearance for me.

Nonetheless, I saw several good birds today. I’ll report on them tomorrow.