Today was a bad day for Julius Caesar (though my blog will show 16th March …India time..it’s only the ides of March here still)…but it was a nice day for me!

I was told that I might see Barred Owls in the area of Forest Park where there are a stand of conifers on Skinker…so that’s where I went today…of course, no sign of the owls, but since I do love the

BLUE JAY

I took some photos of them….I am glad I saw several of them, as I was told that a mosquito-borne infection had almost wiped them out some time ago.

Here’s a male , near the tree-trunk:

I also took a long shot of the bird in the tree: And one of the female: I quickly shot this DOWNY WOODPECKER before he flew off: and the COMMON GRACKLES have started coming back, though they've not got their bright colours yet: (also I was shooting against the sky! Whoever named these birds with such a harsh name, I wonder!)

One Blue Jay was eating his lunch a little later:

I’m very happy with the common birds..they’re quite colourful enough for me!

Some of the other things I saw on my walk, up next…