Earlier, I had made

this post

about some of the birds I saw in Forest Park; here are some more that I photographed on 280409:

This one’s VERY common just now; but that doesn’t make the COMMON GRACKLE (what a name!) less beautiful!

I spotted this RED-HEADED WOODPECKER high up in a conifer: Near the waterfall adjacent to the golf course in Forest Park, I snapped this RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD, which displays the characteristic red patches on its shoulders only when it moves: </a Here's another view: Thanks for the corrected id, ! Later one of the little lakes in Forest Park, this female RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD was taking along some nesting material: This SONG SPARROW was actually singing in the tree, and it was lovely to hear! I loved the are-they-for-real? beauty of the WOOD DUCKS: > id'd this bird for me as the NORTHERN FLICKER (thank you, Y, I couldn't get any matches at all for photographs *until* you id'd the bird!) And, on the lake in the Zoo, were these AMERICAN WHITE PELICANS..they are, indeed, wild birds, one of the people working in the Zoo clarified....they have such strange protruberances on their beaks! Update: Dave Pierce, of the St Louis Audubon Society , says, these protuberances are " found only on mature adults during the breeding season, usually April - Sept. During the fall and winter they lose it. For Pelicans, I guess it means 'I'm ready for action'. " </lj-cut> And here's the Common Grackle, again, making a cabaret dancer of itself!