Group documents Park Cities wildlife with photographs, videos
There are some wild Park Cities residents, and they’ve got the whole neighborhood talking.
A Texas bow-legged bug was caught exploring a children’s play set. An unidentified bright green insect — possibly a grasshopper, katydid, or bush cricket — was spotted on a patio waiting for the rain to stop. A great egret helped himself to some treats during a child’s fishing birthday party in Caruth Park.
And multiple bunnies, owls, ducks, and coyotes have been caught on film everywhere from front yards to the tops of road signs thanks to ever-vigilant security cameras and alert Park Cities residents.
Their footage has been shared on the Park Cities Wildlife Facebook Group, which has grown to include more than 1,000 members since it was created in 2021 by resident Charles Leary.
“Highland Park and University Park and SMU are about seven square miles,” he said. “My hope is that it showcases what’s in our backyard or in our neighborhood.”
Leary had the idea to start the group after he captured a young coyote on video while driving down the road.
There were already Park Cities Facebook groups for high end yard sales, garage sales, and general neighborhood discussions. Why not, Leary thought, start a forum for people who cared about local wildlife? But he never imagined his creation would grow to be this popular.
“I think people are interested in their community in this way,” he said, “and surprised by some of the stuff they see.”
The more unexpected Park Cities visitors include a ringtail, which was captured on alley camera making itself at home atop a gate. Ringtails are solitary mammals and rarely observed in the wild. But the presence of this nocturnal visitor is good news for University Park and Highland Park residents concerned about pests — ringtails aren’t picky eaters and will munch on rats, which have also been documented on Park Cities Wildlife.
Images of a bobcat have been shared multiple times, including a video of the animal giving itself a bath on a doormat, then glaring at the filmmaker when it was interrupted.
During the recent January storms, wildlife watchers posted photos of tracks in the snow, which provided clues to the identities of even more furry and feathered neighbors.
Highland Park resident Amy Genender, who has posted images of critters including an unusual white possum, called Park Cities Wildlife her favorite Facebook group.
“It gives people something positive to focus on,” she said. “It makes people pay attention to what’s going on around them as they’re walking or driving around the neighborhood.”
Her favorite posts include images of a mother owl and her adorable babies on a bird bath. “I wish they’d come to my house,” she said with a laugh.
The group benefits from the expert advice of Dallas Birdman, who is actually David Hurt, the owner of Wild Birds Unlimited on Lovers Lane. Hurt weighs in when there are questions about bird identification and enriches his answers with more information about the species.
The friendly group has shown that those who think there isn’t much wildlife in dense, urban areas are wrong, Hurt said.
“There’s just not a lot of room left for wildlife,” he remarked. “One of the nice things about Park Cities Wildlife is that it does show that some of this urban wildlife is still doing just fine.”