Highlights:
- Expansive views of open water
- Good opportunity for shorebirds and gulls
The Location
Lewisville Lake Park is a large public park at over 400 acres, and is located just north of the lake dam. It features a mix of sports facilities, a golf course, a disk golf course, and lake recreation areas. About 175 acres of the park can be considered birdable.
Google Maps will guide you in on Lake Park Road, which goes past the golf course and dead ends at the golf course parking lot where a closed gate normally won’t allow you to drive farther. You can park here and walk about .25 miles to the closest shore. This is a good option for a shorter visit.
Another option is once in the park, make the first available turn onto Turtle Trail and park by the soccer fields. Then walk up (away from the soccer fields) to the toll gate and take the sidewalk around it. To do a proper sweep of the park shoreline from this parking lot is about 3 miles of walking round trip. You’ll get access to plenty of mixed oak woodland, plus over 1.5 miles of shoreline. This is a good option for a longer visit.
Shore birding and gulling can be good for an area so far from the coast. Shorebirds found in the past few years include Snowy Plover, Black-bellied Plover, Marbled Godwit, Red Knot, Ruddy Turnstone, Sanderling, and Whimbrel.
Other goodies have included Black Scoter, Common Goldeneye, Lesser Black-backed Gull, California Gull, Common Tern, Caspian Tern, Cassin’s Kingbird, and a single flock of Red Crossbill in October 2017.
Birding Recommendations
The four main areas to bird are the oak woodlands, the open fields, a single stand of pine trees, and of course the lake shore. Most birders come for the shoreline and open water, but the mix of habitats makes this one of the top eBird hotspots in Denton County.
If you’re here for lake birds (shorebirds, gulls and terns, ducks) then simply walk the shore line, and ignore the park interior. There are great options for woodland birding elsewhere in the area, especially with LLELA just right down the road. A scope is very useful for identifying ducks and smaller shorebirds moving along the water edge.
If maximizing your species list is your goal, be sure to hit the stand of pine trees on Kingfisher Drive, which is in between the campground and the golf course parking lot. Woodpeckers are likely, and there’s a slight chance of a brown creeper or nuthatch.
In the open fields pay attention to blackbirds, you should be able to get multiple species. And of course, bird the shoreline and open water as much as possible.
Other Information
If you try to drive through the toll booth on Sandy Beach Road they’ll want to charge you $10. This is meant for boaters wanting to use the boat ramps.
Just turn around, park, and walk in. There’s no need for birders to pay at this park.
Birding other places around Dallas? Check out the Texas Hotspot Map for more guides like this one.
