Devin Peipert picked me up at 5.15am this morning, and we went to the Lost Valley:

On the way, dawn was lovely:

We crossed the Missouri river:

The trail looked green, cool and inviting: We walked around, using our binocs: We saw many wildflowers: The BLACK-EYED SUSAN This one seems to be of the Begonacae sp, common in India, too: This was a "regular" mushroom: and this was a conch-shaped mushroom that I've never seen before. I made Devin put his hand next to it for scale: Some berries (blackberries? I don't know) caught our attention: The Thistle may be a common weed, but it's so beautiful! We saw several DRAGONFLIES and I caught this one: The woody vines looked beautiful: This was the only (lousy) shot of the ACADIAN FLYCATCHER that I got, far away in the heavy foliage: Several WOOD THRUSHES foraged along the path,but were quickly driven away by hikers: We watched a few EASTERN TOWHEE foraging, and I got a quick video of the "turning-the-page" action: As we came out, an INDIGO BUNTING sat on the wire to bid us goodbye: We then went to the Busch Conservation Area: The water body, full of yellow lotuses, was a sight for sore eyes... On some of them, RED-WINGED BLACKBIRDS were feeding; this is behaviour I'd not seen before. A small (probably DOWNY) woodpecker was doing the same on the lotus blossoms! On a tree branch (an unusual perch, Devin says) sat a BROWN THRASHER (the state bird of Georgia):1 Here's Devin, talking to Those At Home: And enjoying some masala chai:

It might not have rained bird-sightings, but it was a most enjoyable morning!

For the photos on my FB album,

click here