Prelude to Migration

Last Saturday, I went fishing at Lone Elk Park, and when there were no fish to be caught there, August A. Busch Memorial Conservation Area. At Lone Elk Park, there were yellow-rumped warblers (this was the first time I had seen them in their breeding plumage), eastern phoebes, including one that flew right among an elk herd, a blue winged teal, mallards, barn swallows, and an unidentified sparrow. At August A. Busch, there were barn swallows, chipping sparrows, goldfinches, field sparrows, bluebirds, dark-eyed juncos, downy woodpeckers, mallards, mourning doves, unidentified hawks, a winter wren, probably some other birds, and, the highlight of the trip, an osprey that dove completely into the water to catch a fish This is a picture taken using a camera with 4x zoom, but believe me, it is an osprey.
Also, on Sunday, a quick trip to the Kennedy Forest in Forest Park led to a nice list: yellow-rumped warbler, yellow-bellied sapsucker, northern cardinal, northern flicker, hermit thrush, white-throated sparrows, a carolina wren, and possibly a few others.Soon, I will have a post full of great pictures that I took on yesterday's trip to Tower Grove Park. It has given me a new target species for this spring: a white-eyed vireo. I am sure I saw one yesterday, but it was such a short glimpse that I don't want to add it to my life list. Oh well, I'll try to see one when migration is in full swing, which, according to my Missouri Department of Conservation calender, is today.