Ramble #64: Birds in Murphy Park

Monday, April 6, 2026, 6:30 AM

Image courtesy of Dave DeVore

Taylor has a park with an island that is a favorite nesting spot for some of the larger birds. Greater and Little Blue Herons, Greater Egrets, Snowy Egrets, and more, make their home on the island in City Park in Taylor. It’s a great place to photograph birds, so we’re going to get out early and encourage all of the birders to join in.

Murphy Park is a multi-use park a bit north of downtown Taylor (see the link above). For our outing, enter from W Lake Dr. onto the road on the east side of the lake. This road is between the lake and ballfield.

Sunrise occurs at 7:13 AM; we want to be there during the blue hour, putting arrival time about 6:30 AM.

We’ll also be visiting one or two other good birding spots in Taylor:

• Bull Branch Park

  • Mallards, etc

• Williamson County Expo Center

  • Scissor-tailed Flycatchers, Shrikes, Northern Harriers, Nighthawks, Dickcissels, Meadowlarks, etc

For those that might need some guidance on how to approach bird or birds-in-flight photography, we’ll have two photographers accomplished in this genre to assist. So don’t be shy! Get up early, grab some coffee, and join us in Taylor. We look forward to seeing you!

Afterwards, we can find a spot for lunch, either in Taylor or Hutto.

Preparation

Equipment

• A long lens, preferably 400mm or more

• A tripod + gimbal can be helpful, but some might prefer hand-held

Dave and Larry may have additional information to share; the best way to stay in the loop will be WhatsApp, so please join the group (per the instructions below).

Dave has also provided tips and insights into bird photography, which we’ve placed on this webpage. Take a look at it before our outing.

Agenda

• Arrive before sunrise: 6:30 AM

  • Sunrise is 7:13 AM that day

• Shoot until 8-ish or so

  • We’ll work out the exact schedule that day

• Move to a secondary location

  • Again, we’ll work out the schedule that day

• Move to a ternary location?

• Go get something to eat, visit, share photos on our cameras

  • Location TBD

Communication

We now use a WhatsApp group to disseminate last minute information about rambles, or during the outing. You can choose to leave the group between events, or ignore any activity you do not attend.

Access to the group will be by invite. You will need to:

1. Install WhatsApp on your phone

2. Request to join the group:

   1. Send an email with your request

   2. text Gary

   3. use this link

   4. scan a QR code on location

This will enable us to let everyone know about any last minute cancellation due to unforeseen (or foreseen) circumstances.

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Need to contact us? Find us on Facebook, or send an email to info@rric.club.

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