Waco Area: Cameron Park, Waco Lake, Waco Water Treatment Plant, & Tradinghouse Creek Reservoir

Waco is a modern city with a population of more than 106,000 situated along the banks of the Brazos River. The area contains several well-known landmarks: Baylor University, the world’s largest Baptist university; Strecker Museum, the state’s oldest natural and cultural history museum; the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum; and the original (1906) Dr Pepper bottling plant, now a museum. The city also contains a network of 36 spacious municipal parks, including 416-acre Cameron Park. Waco Lake, also within the city limits, is a 7,270-acre U.S. Army Corps of Engineers impoundment with 60 miles of shoreline. Boating, fishing, swimming, camping, and picnicking are available. Key birds: Neotropic Cormorant, Wild Turkey, and Greater Roadrunner are present year-round. Anhinga, White-faced Ibis, Blackbellied Whistling-Duck, Mississippi Kite, Swainson’s Hawk, Chuckwill’s-widow, Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, Wood Thrush, Indigo and Painted Buntings, Grasshopper Sparrow, and Dickcissel occur in summer. Common Loon; American White Pelican; Hooded Merganser; Osprey; Bald Eagle; Virginia Rail; Clay-colored, Vesper, LeConte’s, Fox, and Harris’s Sparrows; McCown’s, Lapland, and Chestnutcolored Longspurs; and Rusty and Brewer’s Blackbirds can usually be found in winter. This eTrail provides detailed information on birding strategies for this specific location, the specialty birds and other key birds you might see, directions to each birding spot, a detailed map, and helpful general information.