I expected rain, but I didn’t expect the turkey! I had, in fact, come prepared with an umbrella, and was able to wander protected in the central parts of the park, while looking to capture something of a rainy day different in some way from previous rainy days.

I’d been contemplating splashes and drips for some time, thinking of the best way to capture them. I like to travel as light as possible, so I don’t usually carry a tripod (though one would have been useful on a day as dark as today). So, to get the photo I wanted I simply sat down on the bicycle path, steadied my elbows on my knees and watched the surface of a puddle there. The umbrella  kept me reasonably dry (though the seat of my pants was not). I was still there puddle-watching when my daughter called to let me know she needed the car.

I spied the man standing in the street before I saw what he was looking at. There in the middle of Skinker Boulevard on the west side of Forest Park was a wild turkey! Now most of the wild turkey in Forest Park comes in a bottle, so I was determined to get some photos of this one! I pulled over, gathered my gear and as quickly as I could navigate the heavy traffic, I chased that old bird across the golf course and into the Kennedy Forest Savannah.

Here are the results.