It was a nice chill morning as I set out early to Forest Park.

The rising sun lit up the grasses:

A pair of WOOD DUCKS

were my first sighting:

A MALLARD

couple also appeared:

The Mallard male is a bird of colour!

The beauty of Forest Park never fails to enthral me.

I enjoyed the perky HOUSE SPARROWS while waiting for the walk to start. Mark was leading the walk, and we set off. It was great to see a female KESTREL: Scopes and cameras were trained on the raptor. Notice that fall apparel is being worn! Three MOURNING DOVES made a nice composition: I liked these flowers, too! This ground-cover plant (I'd like to know the name) makes for a carpet of tiny pink flowers: We gathered on the bank of the creek as we watched a BELTED KINGFISHER: An EASTERN PHOEBE delighted us in the Prairie area: Mitch Leachman , as always, was a fount of information about the birds. He told us how watching even the everyday, backyard birds, and learning about their behaviour, would be very satisfying; something I agree with, heartily! We spotted two GREBES in the water. When a bird sat high up on a tree, giving the Deepa Mohan pose, it took a while for me to realize it was the AMERICAN ROBIN: We had such a lovely time that the walk extended quite a bit! A migrating MONARCH alighted on my sleeve, and I realized, looking at its damaged wing, that it would not make the full journey... I think this was a SAVANNAH SPARROW but I am not sure: We saw the Kestrel again, eating a quick breakfast: We also sighted a mating ritual: Here's Mitch, in front of the Muny, sharing his knowledge: We wound up looking at the RED-EARED SLIDERS:

I bid good-bye to yet another Monarch as I set off home:

click here

for the bird list on eBird.

All the photos from my FB album are

here

A very enjoyable morning, thanks to the efforts of Mark for FPF, and Mitch for SLAB!