While Lake Highlands Park across from White Rock Lake prepares to essentially shut down to protect the White Rock eagles’ nest, one neighborhood resident who calls himself a hobbyist when it comes to photography has posted some of the more remarkable photos we’ve seen yet of the endangered birds and other local wildlife.
Luis Sandoval — who lives in Little forest Hills — says, as you can see from the Instagram feed @Luismanati, he likes to photograph wildlife and also landscapes and sometimes people’s portraits.
Not only has he made gorgeous photos of bald eagles, he also has images of red-tailed and red-shouldered hawks, Carolina chickadees and a close up of a nutria swimming in White Rock Lake. Those aquatic rodents can be quite startling when you catch a glimpse of one in the water. According to Luis’ caption, they were brought to the U.S. for their fur; they also are an invasive species. But I think they are cute.
Oh, and Luis’ images of the White Rock monk parrots — which you can read more about here — are must-see.
Luis, who was born in Venezuela tells us his day job is manatee curator at The Dallas World Aquarium, which has to be one of the coolest jobs I have ever heard of. He also serves as the manatee health consultant for the Amazon Rescue Center in Peru, a center sponsored and funded by The Dallas World Aquarium, which you can learn more about here: centroderescateamazonico.com.
We have not paid Luis anything and thus have not included his photos in this post. But you can see them all at @Luismanati. Because I am quite interested in the whole manatee curator gig, you can expect a future more-extensive Q&A if he concedes.
In 2014, Advocate photographer Robert Bunch made this bald eagle photo at the lake.
Photo by Robert Bunch 2014
The Dallas Park and Recreation Department and Texas Parks & Wildlife are pulling out all the stops to ensure the eagles’ safety and protection, as Renee Umsted reports.
