[Carl Baggott]

Next weekend I am going to St Louis, America on Business. I have a day free on the Sunday, which I would like to use to do some birdwatching around the city. I guess my means of transport will be either taxi or foot. Could anyone offer any advise on what I might see and where I should try to go.

Carl.

[Tero]

Originally Posted by Carl Baggott

Next weekend I am going to St Louis, America on Business. I have a day free on the Sunday, which I would like to use to do some birdwatching around the city. I guess my means of transport will be either taxi or foot. Could anyone offer any advise on what I might see and where I should try to go.

Carl.

It may be still quite warm here, so you may even need sunscreen.

I am not sure where I will be Sunday the 26th, but most likely bicycling. I may have the afternoon free. I will PM my phone number.

In the city, there is only one large area you can get to by taxi, Forest park. I do not usually bird there at all, as it is crowded with people and parking is hard to find. But it has woods. Close to there is the Botanical Garden, which would be another taxi ride, as there is no easy pedestrian route between the two. They are on different sides of the interstate.

Tower Grove park is behind it, also birding area. Do not end up there alone at night, neither in Forest Park. This is quite urban. Nota actually slum, but low income homes.

I myself bird in suburban parks and nature preserves. This is not great time for birds here. Your best bet is early in the morning. From downtown hotels, you can walk to the arch, and you can see a few birds there, as the Gateway Arch is in a small park.

[Tero]

http://www.stlouisaudubon.org/Birding.htm states
Forest Park/Kennedy Forest:

Forest Park covers nearly 1300 acres of downtown St. Louis.
Fifty acres of woods at the southwest corner of Forest park is known as
Kennedy Forest. This area serves as an effective migrant trap in the spring.
The woods and trails along Valley and Government drives can
yield excellent varieties of warblers and passerines during early May.

This site has links to Mapquest maps

http://epsc.wustl.edu/~rlk/wgnss/gps.html
but some of those Mapquest links are wrong, so try the Topozone maps there as well.

[Tero]

Bird world activity has picked up a bit, and there is a lot of singing. Carl should be able to find the common birds by this singing.

The Eurasian Tree Sparrow is a rather quiet bird, but now has a pretty tseep call, this time of year.

[Carl Baggott]

Hi,

I have just returned from my trip to St Loius, and can report it was a great success, as far as the birding bit was concerned. I visited the Forest Park on the Sunday, and managed to spend about an hour each evening in Tower Grove Park. I recorded just over 60 species with many highlights. The star bird for me was Black-and-white Warbler. I watched a splendid male on some bare branches close to the ground for ages. Many of the species seen were on my all time wish list. The one thing I noticed was how showy many of these birds were. For instance I was lead to believe that Grey Catbirds were supposed to be elusive sculkers, but I was able to watch three together at a drinking fountain in Tower Grove Park. I was also pleased to see a late Ruby-throated Hummingbird, as I have never seen a hummingbird before.

[lassa8]

Carl-

Glad you had a great time in St. Louis! Even though I grew up there and go home for breaks from school I haven't done very much birding in the area. In fact, you've probably got more species in St. Louis than I do! Aren't those catbirds neat little birds? I love how they sound like little kittens up in the trees. Were you able to see any other wood-warblers in the park?

[Carl Baggott]

Hi Lassa8,

Yes, I did see other wood warbler species. Apart from the Black-and-white, I saw Black-throated Green, Nashville, Tennessee, Magnolia, Yellow-rumped and Northern Parula. I also saw Ovenbird and Common Yellowthroat.

Carl.

[Tero]

Congratulations on the humming bird, and I have yet to see the ovenbird myself!

[streatham]

Hi Carl,

The Tennessee is a great bird to find - maybe not as exciting looking as the Black and White but definitely not an easy species to find - one of those birds that no birder would pass up the chance of looking at if it was around.

Luke