eBird Link

Highlights

-Sweeping views of Lake Lavon

Brockdale Park Entrance Road

The Location

Brockdale Park is both a horse riding trailhead and a boat ramp, with a parking lot near the water edge and an unobstructed view of the lake. The sweeping views of the open water make this a good place to post up with a pair of binoculars and a scope and see what floats or flies by.

The Boat Ramp

Birding Recommendations

The entrance road follows the edge of a fairly dense wooded patch that stretches a good 800 feet back from the road. Although certainly not the main attraction of this park, this wooded edge can produce decent birds if you walk along it. In the winter listen for woodpeckers, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Brown Thrasher, and sparrows. Check for migrants in the springs. In the summer listen for singing Painted and Indigo Buntings.

Opposite of the wooded edge is a mostly open grassland with scattered shrubs. This has the potential to produce raptors and sparrows in the winter. Dickcissel are expected May through July.

Fence line along the grassland.

Once near the water edge expect some wind coming off the open water, which sometimes can get pretty strong, and cold in the winter. The closest point on the opposite side of the lake is just over a mile away, and birds can be floating or flying anywhere in between you and there. It’s extremely helpful to have a scope to scan the water and identify flyovers.