Beautiful Day for Birds - At the St. Louis Zoo

It was a beautiful August day in St. Louis.

A perfect day to visit the zoo with our grandson as our guide.

Our first stop was to see the birds who were playing

in one of the lakes and in with the penguins.

Many of the birds lived in with the zoo animals.

This one kind of made me think of "Big Bird" from Sesame Street

This guy seemed to be laughing at all of us.

While we stoped for a bite to eat, this noisy bunch invaded the eating area.  I'm not sure if this was a "bad hair day" or what!

There were some caged in areas where this eagle appeared very bored and not too happy to be having everyone staring at him.

His friend in the next cage over was quite interesting.  If you didn't see one eye peaking through those feathers, it was hard to tell if you were looking at his front or his back because his beak blended in so well.  I'm not sure either one of them was too happy to be there.

There was a really neat area where we were able to go through some doors and be inside the cage with the birds.  They were extremely beautiful and seemed to be color coordinated.

There was also a whole large building filled with birds behind vertical wires in settings similar to their natural habitat.  They were very beautiful and colorful; however, the lighting was not always the best for taking pictures; because if you needed to use a flash, usually just the wires showed up.

This bird has such striking eyes.

These two parrots were carrying on quite a noisy conversation.

This guy appreared to be carrying a banana on his head...Quite the bird!

This little beauty's bright red head appeared to have faded on her breast.

As we were heading for the gate to go home, we saw this lovely peacock making himself pretty.


As I said before, it was a beautiful day at the zoo!

Just Passing Through??

The other day as I was looking out my kitchen window, I saw a baby

Chipping Sparrow being feed by its parent. I quickly grabbed my camera.

As I was concentrating on the sparrows I caught a glimpse of yellow on

the railing. It all happened so quickly, and then that little spec of yellow was gone.

What a little beauty!

At first I thought it was probably a Yellow Throated Warbler since one had stopped by in the Spring.

 

However, upon

checking further I think it may be an immature Blackburnian Warbler.

I don't see warblers very often.....What do you think?

          Here is a side and bottom view.

Missouri Botanical Gardens - The Japanese Garden

This garden is one of the largest traditional Japanese gardens in North America. It is called a "garden of pure, clear harmony and peace."

This fountain is found at the entrance to the garden.

Some of the shaded walkways are lined with hostas.

There was quite a large sand garden.

The garden totals fourteen acres surrounding a five acre lake.

Many of the lotus has already finished blooming.

However, I did find this yellow one with a pretty green dragonfly.

In the distance you can see a traditional Japanese bridge.

Of course, we did stop to feed the koi fish as we crossed one of the bridges.
That one in front had his mouth open waiting for us to drop in the fish food.

We have finally reached the bridge that will lead us out of the garden.

And the family is still hanging in there with smiles on their faces.

Missouri Botanical Gardens - Bird Garden

Another interesting part of the Missouri Botanical Gardens was the Bird Garden.  This is an area dedicated to attracting birds and butterflies which includes many vibrantly colored flowers.

       This is the entrance

This was the only bird other than a hummingbird that I saw while walking through the garden.  You really need to look closely to see him because he blends in so well with his surroundings.

The colors were so vivid and beautiful.

Some really tall sunflowers.