A couple of trips to Forest Park got me these….this

RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD

sitting on a bush,

and singing its usual “treeeeee” song:

Another Value-For-Money bird in terms of colourful appearance is the WOOD DUCK: The birthday picnic we had for KTB was inaugurated by this DOWNY WOODPECKER low down on a tree-trunk: It didn't seem to be bothered by us at all: Up and down he(or she) goes, looking for insects in the bark: Andrea Kimberling suddenly found a caterpillar (not in her food, luckily, but only in her hair!) And a little later, she came up with this green beauty: After the picnic was over, we decided to let Mark show us the fledged GREAT HORNED OWL babies; here's the first one we saw (we didn't get to see the third one) The second owlet was not too far away: But we decided to go home then, and leave the park "to darkness and to him" as Gray would say!

But the very next morning, on my walk, I spotted this

WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW

which I had never seen before..what a beauty it is!

With Mark, I hope to spot a coyote or a fox soon….!