Last Sunday, DnA’s running group went to Creve Coeur Lake…here’s a view:

It was an overcast, cool morning. (not great for photography, that's my excuse!)..I was the PIC (Perambulator-In-Charge)...I walked slowly down the path along the lake, making sure that Biddles was quite comfortable...but didn't quite let go of the camera, either! The signboard gave quite a few do's and don'ts: It was (of course, if I want to be outdoors!) rainy and overcast, and I didn't get very far; but it was enough for me to see just a few birds...here's the bird that Dave Pierce id'd for me as the CHIPPING SPARROW : That was the female, and here's the male with a juvenile in tow: Don't mind the terrible photographs...have you shot one-handed, with the other hand gently pushing a baby in a perambulator, for fear she will wake up if kept still? :) Here's a video I also managed to hold MLC2 steady enough to take: I saw the first wild HUMMINGBIRDS that I have seen in Missouri: And here's the little bird in its beautiful, typical flight: I caught sight of several DOWNY WOODPECKERS , at work on the tree-trunks: Some of the freshness lay in the tender tendrils, seeking their fortune in different directions: Some young leaves made it a little colourful: The white of the mushrooms betokened plenty of rain: After everyone finished their run, we went to Westport Plaza and had breakfast at the St Louis Bread Co ...just outside, on a distant building, sat two RED-TAILED HAWKS, with majestic disdain for the human dots far below: After breakfast, we drove through the Lone Elk Park but we did not sight a single animal! So we went to the World Bird Sanctuary ...but all we had time to do was to see the captive birds there. Here are the LONG-CRESTED EAGLE : and here's the TURKEY VULTURE that I saw so many of in California: There was a magnificient GREAT HORNED OWL looking at us disdainfully: A rather forlorn-looking TAWNY EAGLE sat on its perch: No matter how well they are treated, it is somehow sad to see birds in captivity...but since, for example, the Eagle was rescued from a magic show, I guess they are leading a better life here than they were, wherever they were rescued from. Why do some people think that our fellow-citizens on this planet have been put here only for our entertainment, nutrition, or convenience?

The image that stayed with me, though, was that of the serenity of this fisherman upon the lake:

You can imagine how tough it was to keep one eye on GD, walk on, to keep her moving gently– and yet keep that bird in the frame! I hope I am not the only babysitter-cum-birder-cum-photographer in the world!

Well, I am also probably the only babysitter-cum-blogger, because Biddles is my second laptop–having displaced the first– right now, as I type this!