Forest Park Forever/Audubon Society monthly birdwalk, 030813, Forest Park, St.Louis
We gathered and walked out of the Visitors' Center:
Mark took us to see the Charles, the male
GREAT HORNED OWL:
A male
AMERICAN GOLDFINCH
delighted us with flashes of yellow:
In the distance (across Lindell Blvd) we saw, through the cloudy weather, a
GREEN HERON
almost in silhouette:
On the same tree, a
RED-TAILED HAWK
also sat; it was very pale indeed, even for a juvenile:
Meanwhile, I learnt that this is
POISON IVY:
(Throughout the walk, Amy, Jim and others taught me a lot about the plants and trees that I saw.)
We followed the course of the creek, and we saw a
NORTHERN FLICKER
and a
MOURNING DOVE
on the bank:
Pat is a heroine in my book; she turns out for the walks in spite of having a lot on her plate to deal with:
Was this a
WREN
or a
SONG SPARROW?
with just the silhouette to go by, we were not sure...but the song decided us that it was the latter.
That delightful summer visitor,the
RUBY-THROATED HUMMINGBIRD
made several appearances (all, alas, high up on trees, where we could not see the shimmering colours!)
The
IRONWEED
was in flower:
We followed the Kingfishers down the creek:
The
WATERLILY
and the
WATER PRIMROSE
looked pretty in the water:
This wildflower looked beautiful with the raindrops!
As did this one, which Marilynn Motchan id'd the next day at Rockwoods Reservation, as
SENNA:
We saw several
EASTERN KINGBIRDS
(and some Eastern Phoebes, too)
Another Green Heron came and landed behind the reeds, and proceeded to make a meal off a frog.
I spotted these
APHIDS
(Amy Witt id'd them for me) on a plant...they looked beautiful!
Here are the flowers of the plant:
Some of the native grasses are as beautiful as carefully-bred cultivars!
Waterlilies, both white
and pink
were a treat to the eye.
These are called SEA OATS, but I agree with Jim Wilson...when we are near the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers, RIVER OATS is a better name!
This is the
BOTTLE-BRUSH GRASS:
Jim told me that when
POKEWEED
turns this wonderful magenta, it's poisonous to humans:
As we crossed a muddy ditch, we saw this
JEWEL PLANT (also called Touch-me-not) blooming:
I was also very happy to see the first few
MONARCH
butterflies of the season:
This
PEARLY CRESCENT
was also beautiful...
Brenda spotted this beautiful
COOPER'S HAWK
in the air, being mobbed by several other birds:
The walk came to an end with Karen announcing Audubon Society free birdwalks for September and October:
Bradley, Mark, Brenda and I continued onwards for another look at the Great Horned Owls. It's long been a running joke that Mark always spots Barred Owls, and I have never seen one, yet. This morning, too, he arrived with a shot of one that he'd just seen...and when we went there, of course, the Bird Had Flown! (That's what I call "Avian Flew"!) We teased Mark that he'd probably taken that photo in Yellowstone and come down to meet us!
We saw the Red-tailed Hawk sitting on a tree again (near the Visitors' Center)...and this was a really amazing sight. The other birds were very perturbed by the Hawk..but a tiny Hummer sat on another branch of the tree, quite unconcerned!
The Hawk sat on the left-hand-side of the tree, and the Hummer, a tiny dot,on the extreme right.
Here's the Hawk:
Here's the Hummer in closeup (thank goodness for the huge zoom on my camera!)
We saw this
MALLARD
mother with her children:
And we wound up watching Sarah, the female Great Horned Owl, and then, one of the young ones, in the wooded area:
For my FB album with more photos (esp of the variety of plants),
click here
Bird List:
Blackbird, Red-winged
Dove, Mourning
Flicker, Northern
Goldfinch, American
Grackle, Common
Hawk, Cooper's
Hawk, Red-tailed
Heron, Great Blue
Heron, Green
Housefinch, Common
Hummingbird, Ruby-throated
Kingbird, Eastern
Kingfisher, Belted
Mallard
Owl, Great Horned
Robin, American
Phoebe, Eastern
Sparrow, Chipping
Sparrow, House
Sparrow, Song
Starling, Common
Swallow, Barn
Swift, Chimney
Wren, Carolina
Woodpecker, Red-headed
Yellowthroat, Common
Mark took us to see the Charles, the male
GREAT HORNED OWL:
A male
AMERICAN GOLDFINCH
delighted us with flashes of yellow:
In the distance (across Lindell Blvd) we saw, through the cloudy weather, a
GREEN HERON
almost in silhouette:
On the same tree, a
RED-TAILED HAWK
also sat; it was very pale indeed, even for a juvenile:
Meanwhile, I learnt that this is
POISON IVY:
(Throughout the walk, Amy, Jim and others taught me a lot about the plants and trees that I saw.)
We followed the course of the creek, and we saw a
NORTHERN FLICKER
and a
MOURNING DOVE
on the bank:
Pat is a heroine in my book; she turns out for the walks in spite of having a lot on her plate to deal with:
Was this a
WREN
or a
SONG SPARROW?
with just the silhouette to go by, we were not sure...but the song decided us that it was the latter.
That delightful summer visitor,the
RUBY-THROATED HUMMINGBIRD
made several appearances (all, alas, high up on trees, where we could not see the shimmering colours!)
The
IRONWEED
was in flower:
We followed the Kingfishers down the creek:
The
WATERLILY
and the
WATER PRIMROSE
looked pretty in the water:
This wildflower looked beautiful with the raindrops!
As did this one, which Marilynn Motchan id'd the next day at Rockwoods Reservation, as
SENNA:
We saw several
EASTERN KINGBIRDS
(and some Eastern Phoebes, too)
Another Green Heron came and landed behind the reeds, and proceeded to make a meal off a frog.
I spotted these
APHIDS
(Amy Witt id'd them for me) on a plant...they looked beautiful!
Here are the flowers of the plant:
Some of the native grasses are as beautiful as carefully-bred cultivars!
Waterlilies, both white
and pink
were a treat to the eye.
These are called SEA OATS, but I agree with Jim Wilson...when we are near the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers, RIVER OATS is a better name!
This is the
BOTTLE-BRUSH GRASS:
Jim told me that when
POKEWEED
turns this wonderful magenta, it's poisonous to humans:
As we crossed a muddy ditch, we saw this
JEWEL PLANT (also called Touch-me-not) blooming:
I was also very happy to see the first few
MONARCH
butterflies of the season:
This
PEARLY CRESCENT
was also beautiful...
Brenda spotted this beautiful
COOPER'S HAWK
in the air, being mobbed by several other birds:
The walk came to an end with Karen announcing Audubon Society free birdwalks for September and October:
Bradley, Mark, Brenda and I continued onwards for another look at the Great Horned Owls. It's long been a running joke that Mark always spots Barred Owls, and I have never seen one, yet. This morning, too, he arrived with a shot of one that he'd just seen...and when we went there, of course, the Bird Had Flown! (That's what I call "Avian Flew"!) We teased Mark that he'd probably taken that photo in Yellowstone and come down to meet us!
We saw the Red-tailed Hawk sitting on a tree again (near the Visitors' Center)...and this was a really amazing sight. The other birds were very perturbed by the Hawk..but a tiny Hummer sat on another branch of the tree, quite unconcerned!
The Hawk sat on the left-hand-side of the tree, and the Hummer, a tiny dot,on the extreme right.
Here's the Hawk:
Here's the Hummer in closeup (thank goodness for the huge zoom on my camera!)
We saw this
MALLARD
mother with her children:
And we wound up watching Sarah, the female Great Horned Owl, and then, one of the young ones, in the wooded area:
For my FB album with more photos (esp of the variety of plants),
click here
Bird List:
Blackbird, Red-winged
Dove, Mourning
Flicker, Northern
Goldfinch, American
Grackle, Common
Hawk, Cooper's
Hawk, Red-tailed
Heron, Great Blue
Heron, Green
Housefinch, Common
Hummingbird, Ruby-throated
Kingbird, Eastern
Kingfisher, Belted
Mallard
Owl, Great Horned
Robin, American
Phoebe, Eastern
Sparrow, Chipping
Sparrow, House
Sparrow, Song
Starling, Common
Swallow, Barn
Swift, Chimney
Wren, Carolina
Woodpecker, Red-headed
Yellowthroat, Common