Forest Park

Last night we took another trip to Forest Park.  In part for some exercise during the cooler hours of the day, but probably mostly due to my desire to see some more owls. Either way both Nick and I agreed that we very much liked being only a 5 minutes drive away.  Sadly our lone owl prowl was fruitless, obvious that we hadn't paid enough attention to the previous nights lessons.  Despite initial disappointment we continued on a walk up to the outdoor theatre and then around to the top of a very large hill where we watched the sunset and listened to an artistically dressed, interestingly hatted man play his flute in a building on top.  The building acted as a sort of amplifier so the sound projected into everyones night.

The Owl Man

The night before last we went for an evening wander through Forest Park.  Home of the largest world fair it once drew more than 19 million visitors from around the world.  On site there is an Art Museum, Science Center, Zoo, Jewel Box Greenhouse, History Museum, The Muny Outdoor Theatre, restaurants, lakes and the such.  Whilst casually walking I happened upon something which furiously vibrated beneath my sandal.  Instinctually imagining that my foot was now pressed upon the neck of a rattle snake I made a small scene and let out a squeal.  The scene attracted the attention of a man a short distance away who I had actually spotted a while before as he had been holding a camera.  The man asked what we had found, and on closer inspection it turned out not to be a rattle snake at all but a giant pair of mating cicadas.  Quite awful.

The man, seemingly disappointed with my Attenborough-esque natural discovery asked immediately if I would like to see something else.  Well at this point I am standing by some woodland and there is little light left to the day.  Generally speaking if an individual i'd met in this situation offered to show me "something" I would kindly decline and make a dash before he would have chance to open his trench coat and show the world that he wasn't wearing any knickers.  Uncharacteristically I accepted the invitation for both Nick and myself and followed the khaki dressed man of into a space in the trees.  He turned out to be The Owl Man.... An owl enthusiast who had been following a pair of Great Horned Owls in Forest Park for the last 5 years.  He knew everything there was to know about these owls and spoke with a great deal of passion.  As promised he did show us something, impressively we were presented with two of his owls, dubbed Charles and Sarah, sitting bold as brass in front of us.  

Well, I have to admit, it made my night.  The Owl Man showed interest in my Commonwealth nations accent and promptly scrawled his details down on a fitting owl notebook. 

Lesson of the day:  Don't follow strangers into the woods, unless they are wearing khaki.  

Pre-Owls.

  

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Nicholas' Inspiration:

The first clean.