The icicles on the Cascades (what’s left of them when the water is turned off for the winter) might give you the impression it was cold today. If you had gone out unprepared, without your coat and hat, you might have rued the wind that blew today, snatching away the benefit of the brilliant sunshine. But if you had done as I did, ensconcing myself on the windless bank of one of Forest Park’s many streams, where only the sun could  find me, you would have found it pleasant indeed. So pleasant that I was sorely tempted to lie back and have a nap!

If you snooze, you loose, in the world of photography as well as in the rest of life. I sat upright at the cries of the Kingfishers, and saw one downstream to my right and another perched high in a tree to my left. After observing the bird to my left for a few minutes, I made the mistake of setting my camera down and looking elsewhere. I caught his plunge out of the corner of my eye. With a splash he hit the water and grabbed his lunch before leaping back into the air. I kept the camera closely trained on him for a long time after that remarkable performance.

Then a Cooper’s Hawk drifted lazily overhead, posed for a few photos and wandered off to the east. I stayed a while longer before heading off to do other things. On my way to find Trudy, my powerful luxury automobile, I spied a falcon high in a tree and spent quite a lot of time later trying to identify him. The last birds of the day I see keeping company, pecking through the gardens in front of the Missouri History Museum. A Killdeer and a Robin are at the “all you can eat” buffet. I had just long enough to aim a few shots out the driver’s window as I waited for the traffic light to change. It was a great day!