It won’t be long now until US 40 is ready for automobile action once more. The section that runs through Forest Park has been closed since the first of the year (adding 15 to 20 minutes to any east-west travel I may have to do), but the most recent news is that it will reopen on December 7 (and not a moment too soon, I might add). The noise level in the park will go up again - that’s the only down side to it.

Today I sat on the stone wall that runs along Wells by the successional forest. A leaf suddenly let go of its tree and wobbled to the ground, but I was there to watch the birds that had arrested my attention as I rode by. So, I sat and watched titmice and bluejays flit from here to there and back again. I don’t know if they were checking me out, but I was certainly checking them out - and I caught them on the silicon! Now that the leaves are mostly fallen, it’s much easier to see the birds. I wonder if I can find Charles and Sarah in the day time?

But birding was not my raison d'être dans le parc, so I continued my way eastward and followed the paths around the Steinberg rink (the ice is on and it will be open through the end of February). Here’s what I found today.