Creve Coeur Lake, 080709

July 10, 2009

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

creve coeur lake 080709

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: cc lake trail sign 080709 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 : swamp sparrow female cc lake 050709 That was the female, and here's the male with a juvenile in tow: swamp sparrow male and female creve coeur lake 050709 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: humming bird 050709 And here's the little bird in its beautiful, typical flight: I caught sight of several DOWNY WOODPECKERS , at work on the tree-trunks: dancers opening muny 080709 Some of the freshness lay in the tender tendrils, seeking their fortune in different directions: 080709 cc lake tendril Some young leaves made it a little colourful: new leaf cc lake The white of the mushrooms betokened plenty of rain: Photobucket 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: red-tailed hawks on Westport Plaza cc lake run 080709 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 : long-crested eagle and here's the TURKEY VULTURE that I saw so many of in California: turkey vulture wbs 050709 There was a magnificient GREAT HORNED OWL looking at us disdainfully: great horned owl wbs 080709 A rather forlorn-looking TAWNY EAGLE sat on its perch: tawny eagle wbs 080709 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:

fisherman on Creve Coeur Lake 050709

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!