How I miss the pre-monsoon showers in Bangalore! (But not too much, as weather.com tells me the high in Bangalore is 30 deg C, and it is 24 deg C in St.Louis…I propose to go for another long hike in Forest Park when I am done with housework!

Some of the very common birds I'd

The Brown-headed Cowbirds and their mates seem to be out, and the "treeeee!" call of the Red-winged Blackbird can be heard everywhere. Mockingbirds and the immigrants….the European Starlings with their bronze-green sheen, and the House Sparrows….are briging forth families. The American Robin (called Robin Redbreast in Britain) also has babies trailing along, chirping loudly for worms.

As I walk along Des Peres Creek, the Mallards and the Green Herons look up alertly at me in case I am coming to catch them.  Several Kildeer are now to be seen on the grass along the banks…… A Snowy Egret quickly spears a fish,  and takes it off. I go to watch the Great Horned Owls, but can see only the mother today….the other birds, such as the Common Grackle, also show their shining plumage, and as a bonus, I see the "Woody Woodpecker" Red-headed Woodpecker, at her nest:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150819684993878.417256.587058877&type=3

The migratory warblers (they arrive in St.Louis in summer; alas, Missouri is not a hot-spot birding location, but it's great for my level of ignorance!)  show themselves here and there, and once in a while, I get a lovely video like this:

http://deponti.livejournal.com/836849.html



This kind of nature ramble is certainly not the stuff of National Geographic…but it's my morning "battery recharger", and I come home by 7am, ready to take on my daily duties, with a happy smile on my face, that lasts the whole day long. Just this morning, an elderly lady (er, I mean, MORE elderly than me!) smiled back at me and remarked, "It's so nice to see a smiling face early in the morning.)

I watch the mink family in the creek, which I've been following from last year:

http://deponti.livejournal.com/826742.html

I can't see any young ones now, I was very lucky last year, as my friend Danny Brown informed me!


Dear Subbu…thank you for inspiring me, with your descriptive post,  to write this….and Zafar Saab, I want you to know that halfway around the world, when I joined  the Audubon Society's monthly bird-watching outing (exactly like our Lalbagh outing)  this time,  there were THREE people who knew about you, and were awed to think that I knew you personally.