Bob Corbett hunting birds with binoculars in Forest Park
Photo by Sally Sharamitaro
April 2008
CHART OF BIRDS PICTURED
| Humminbird | Great Blue Heron | Great Egret | Snowy Egret | Green Heron |
| Black-Crowned Night Heron | Belted Kingfisher | American Kestrel | Red Headed Woodpecker | Veery |
| Song Sparrow | Killdeer | Mallard Duck | Wood Duck | Barn Swallow |
BIRDS ON MY "YARD-BIRD" SIGHTINGS PAGE WHICH I'VE ALSO
SEEN IN FOREST PARK
The birds listed in the chart below are ones I've seen in BOTH Forest Park and my own backyard. Since the distances are closer and the birds often have stopped moving to eat food I've put out, we tend to get better photos of them in the yard than park. So,
if you click on any bird below you will go to the photo on page on my yard bird page.
| Tufted Titmouse | Downy Woodpecker | Red-Bellied Woodpecker | Carolina Chickadee | Robin |
| Goldfinch | House Finch | Redwing Blackbird | Mourning & Rock Doves | Starling |
| House Sparrow | White-Throat Sparrow | Dark-Eyed Junko | Cardinal | Red-Tail Hawk |
| Northern Flicker | Common Grackle | Mockingbird | Blank now | blank now |
HUMMINGBIRD
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HUMMINGBIRDS
There is a gravel path behind the Art Museum in Kennedy Forest. It is generally known by the fact that the Osage "tree within a tree" is there. However, a few years ago I gave that path a nickname, "hummingbird lane." There are always many many hummingbirds who feed on some red plants there. They look a good deal like trumpet vine plants, but they are not. The trumpet vines have larger bell like flowers. These are smaller, but the hummingbirds flock to them.
We are able to stand within 10-15 feet of the birds and they just go about their business, fighting, eating, flitting around.
They especially like to land on tiny dead twigs that abound in the area. The hummingbirds have no legs, but small feet sort of stick out of the belly and they land on these tiny twigs holding on with those invisible feet.
Photos by Sally Sharamitaro
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GREAT BLUE HERON
GREAT BLUE HERON
July 29, 2007
Seen at Deer Lake Savannah region
The bird was in a tree at least 30 foot up and about 20-30 yards from where we were standing. Another great blue heron was on a branch about two below this one, but pluming itself and thus not very photogenic.
Photo taken by Sally Sharamitaro
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GREAT EGRET HERON
3 PHOTOS OF THE GREAT EGRET
GREAT EGRET
August 7, 2007
Seen at Deer Lake Savannah region
The bird was in a tree at least 30 foot up and about 40 yards from where we were standing.
Photo taken by Sally Sharamitaro
GREAT EGRET
August 7, 2007
Seen at the bridge between the golf course and the island between the Grand Basin and The Boat House. (Just south of Davis Tennis Center
The bird was in the river, standing quite still. It was about 30 feet from us and below us about 5 foot.
Photo taken by Sally Sharamitaro
GREAT EGRET
August 7, 2007
Seen at the bridge between the golf course and the island between the Grand Basin and The Boat House. (Just south of Davis Tennis Center
The bird was in the river, standing quite still. It was about 30 feet from us and below us about 5 foot.
Photos taken by Sally Sharamitaro
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SNOWY EGRET
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SNOWY EGRET
These photos area all of the same egret. It was along the river, that runs just near the Union Ave. exit of the park. This was the same location of the photos of the killdeer below.
Photos by Sally Sharamitaro
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GREEN HERON
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GREEN HERON
The bird on the left was sitting on a dead tree in the pond north of Deer Lake in the Deer Lake Savannah. The one on the right was on a large rock along the creek/river running near the Muny Opera.
Photos taken by Sally Sharamitaro July 2007 and April 2008
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BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT HERON
BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT HERON WITH FISH
July 29, 2007
We were walking in the area of the river just east of Deer Lake (east of the Muny Opera). I saw this heron in the edge of the water, sitting very still, fishing. A few minutes later it flew off, and we saw it on the other side of the river, about 30-35 yards away, with a short, perhaps five inch, catfish in its mouth.
Photo taken by Sally Sharamitaro
BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT HERON
August 7, 2007
The heron was was in the river just east of Deer Lake. We were about eye-level with the bird and about 30 feet from it.
Photo taken by Sally Sharamitaro
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BELTED KINGFISHER
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BELTED KINGFISHERS
| LEFT PHOTO The bird kept moving its head from left to right. We were about 30 yards from the tree and it was in the river just east of Deer Lake. We were about eye-level with the bird. |
CENTER PHOTO This bird sat high in a tree on the island between Grand Basin and The Boat House. We couldn't get a clear shot because of the dense folliage of the tree. It kept switching its head from left to right and straight toward us, thus it made it difficult to get a shot we wanted. | RIGHT PHOTO This bird was on the purple martin house on the island in the Post-Dispatch Lake. We were perhaps 100 yards from the bird on the island to the west. We were on one island, shooting photos of four white egrets in a huge tree on the island across from us. To our right a huge dog dove into the lake making a large splash, no birds moved. While Sally was working with the camera and tri-pod, I saw another large spash across from me. I wondered, how did a dog get out on that island, and I turned to investigate. Much to my shock the very large splash was not a dog, but a kingfisher fishing. We quickly shifted the camera toward that bird. |
Photo taken by Sally Sharamitaro
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AMERICAN KESTREL
AMERICAN KESTREL
Sepember 2007
We spotted this hawk in a tall dead tree, the same tree where we photographed the great blue egret above. It is over in the Deer Lake Savannah area.
We were about 30-40 yards from the tree and, like the egret in the same tree, was near the very top of a tall tree.
Thanks to Shawn Clubb for help with the identification. I had first identified it as a Cooper's Hawk.
Photo taken by Sally Sharamitaro
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RED HEADED WOODPECKER
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| RED-HEADED WOODPECKER The bird sat for a long time on a branch of a tree between the street and the Steinberg Savannah. We were about 20 yards from the tree and the bird was up about 20-30 feet in the tree. Unfortunately the bird was in deep shade and just didn't want to get into the sun. The red-headed woodpeckers are in many areas of the park and one of the brightest most spectacularly colored birds in the park. | RED-HEADED WOODPECKER The bird sat for a long time on a branch of a tree, but not so very still. We were across the river system, east of the Deer Lake Savannah. There are no real paths here, one grass path that is cut, but seldom used. We come here often since it is relatively deserted of people, but has lots of birds, mainly goldfinch (dozens and dozens). We were about 40 yards from the tree and the bird was up about 40- 50 feet in the tree. | RED-HEADED WOODPECKER JUVENILE We had no idea what the bird was until we got home and loaded up the photo. There was no red on the head. Thus it seemed not to be a red-headed woodpecker, nor Northern flicker, nor red-bellied. We thought perhaps it was either a downy or hairy woodpecker. Once we got the photo up I hurried to David Sibley's wonderful field guide and there was our bird -- a JUVENILE red-headed woodpecker. This must be a very uncommon sighting. |
Photos taken by Sally Sharamitaro
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SWAINSON'S THRUSH
SWAINSON'S THRUSH
August 2007
NOTE from 5/15/12: I had misnamed this bird as a Veery. However, I got a note today from Dr. J.V. Remsen pointing me to the correct identification -- Swainson's thrush. Thanks to Dr. Remsen for this correction.
The bird was in a large tree in the Steinberg Savannah.
We were about 40 feet from the bird.
Photo taken by Sally Sharamitaro
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SONG SPARROW
SONG SPARROW
July 30, 2007
The bird was in a short tree/bush in the Deer Lake Savannah.
We were only about 10 feet from the bird at eye level, but the leaves made it difficult to get a shot and moving would have frightened the bird.
The song sparrow is especially fun to watch. It tilts its head way back and opens the beak wide to make one of the most lovely lilting songs any bird sings.
Photo taken by Sally Sharamitaro
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KILLDEER
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KILLDEER
Both photos are of the same bird. It was walking along the river right at the area where Union Blvd. exits the park. Very hard to get a photo of it because of the rocks.
Photos by Sally Sharamitaro
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MALLARD DUCK
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MALLARD DUCK
August 2007
The female mallard on the left was sunning on a rock near where the Muny Opera is. We were quite close to her.
The group of male and female mallards in the photo on the right were much closer to the Union Avenue exit.
Photos taken by Sally Sharamitaro August 2007 (left) and May 2008 (right)
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WOOD DUCK
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WOOD DUCK
On the left is a male wood duck. On the right a pair, male and female. Both are in the lake east of the Muny Opera, Deer Lake.
The male is an extremely magnificent bird. It always looks more like a painting than a real live bird.
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BARN SWALLOW
BARN SWALLOW
July 30, 2007
From the island between the Grand Basin and the Boathouse.
We were just about 10 feet from this bird. It was in a tree directly above our heads. The shadows and unwillingness of this bird to sit still make getting a decent photo nearly impossible.
The day before we didn't have the camera with is and in the bright sun, just a few yards from this spot, about 30 barn swallows landed in a tree about 20 yards from us. They were moving about and such, as the swallows do (seldom landing at all), but we could have gotten a much clearer photo of the lovely russet colors of the birds in the sun.
Photo taken by Sally Sharamitaro
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Bob Corbett bob@corbettland.com