We gathered and walked out of the Visitors’ Center:

Mark took us to see the Charles, the male

GREAT HORNED OWL:

A male AMERICAN GOLDFINCH delighted us with flashes of yellow: In the distance (across Lindell Blvd) we saw, through the cloudy weather, a GREEN HERON almost in silhouette: On the same tree, a RED-TAILED HAWK also sat; it was very pale indeed, even for a juvenile: Meanwhile, I learnt that this is POISON IVY: (Throughout the walk, Amy, Jim and others taught me a lot about the plants and trees that I saw.) We followed the course of the creek, and we saw a NORTHERN FLICKER and a MOURNING DOVE on the bank: Pat is a heroine in my book; she turns out for the walks in spite of having a lot on her plate to deal with: Was this a WREN or a SONG SPARROW? with just the silhouette to go by, we were not sure...but the song decided us that it was the latter. That delightful summer visitor,the RUBY-THROATED HUMMINGBIRD made several appearances (all, alas, high up on trees, where we could not see the shimmering colours!) The IRONWEED was in flower: We followed the Kingfishers down the creek: The WATERLILY and the WATER PRIMROSE looked pretty in the water: This wildflower looked beautiful with the raindrops! As did this one, which Marilynn Motchan id'd the next day at Rockwoods Reservation, as SENNA: We saw several EASTERN KINGBIRDS (and some Eastern Phoebes, too) Another Green Heron came and landed behind the reeds, and proceeded to make a meal off a frog. I spotted these APHIDS (Amy Witt id'd them for me) on a plant...they looked beautiful! Here are the flowers of the plant: Some of the native grasses are as beautiful as carefully-bred cultivars! Waterlilies, both white and pink were a treat to the eye. These are called SEA OATS, but I agree with Jim Wilson...when we are near the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers, RIVER OATS is a better name! This is the BOTTLE-BRUSH GRASS: Jim told me that when POKEWEED turns this wonderful magenta, it's poisonous to humans: As we crossed a muddy ditch, we saw this JEWEL PLANT (also called Touch-me-not) blooming: I was also very happy to see the first few MONARCH butterflies of the season: This PEARLY CRESCENT was also beautiful... Brenda spotted this beautiful COOPER'S HAWK in the air, being mobbed by several other birds: The walk came to an end with Karen announcing Audubon Society free birdwalks for September and October: Bradley, Mark, Brenda and I continued onwards for another look at the Great Horned Owls. It's long been a running joke that Mark always spots Barred Owls, and I have never seen one, yet. This morning, too, he arrived with a shot of one that he'd just seen...and when we went there, of course, the Bird Had Flown! (That's what I call "Avian Flew"!) We teased Mark that he'd probably taken that photo in Yellowstone and come down to meet us! We saw the Red-tailed Hawk sitting on a tree again (near the Visitors' Center)...and this was a really amazing sight. The other birds were very perturbed by the Hawk..but a tiny Hummer sat on another branch of the tree, quite unconcerned! The Hawk sat on the left-hand-side of the tree, and the Hummer, a tiny dot,on the extreme right. Here's the Hawk: Here's the Hummer in closeup (thank goodness for the huge zoom on my camera!) We saw this MALLARD mother with her children:

And we wound up watching Sarah, the female Great Horned Owl, and then, one of the young ones, in the wooded area:

For my FB album with more photos (esp of the variety of plants),

click here

Bird List: Blackbird, Red-winged Dove, Mourning Flicker, Northern Goldfinch, American Grackle, Common Hawk, Cooper's Hawk, Red-tailed Heron, Great Blue Heron, Green Housefinch, Common Hummingbird, Ruby-throated Kingbird, Eastern Kingfisher, Belted Mallard Owl, Great Horned Robin, American Phoebe, Eastern Sparrow, Chipping Sparrow, House Sparrow, Song Starling, Common Swallow, Barn Swift, Chimney Wren, Carolina Woodpecker, Red-headed Yellowthroat, Common