The lure of the park

The sun was out in full force today (14 Mar), after days of gloomy weather. The birds were chirping outside and as I hung the laundry, I had to fight an urge to go to the park again. You've got books to read and articles to write, one side said. You're on holiday, the other half argued. Besides, you missed the Yellow Bittern yesterday, and it's out there waiting for you. Remember the Canon ad on TV, where everyone was waiting for the school bell to ring and then they all dash out with their cameras to take photos? That was how I felt. What's half an hour in the park? Well, it turned out to be an hour in the park and another hour downloading and photo imaging. Was it worth it? You bet. Maybe it was dumb-ass luck, but I was waiting by the pondweed where I saw the Bittern once, and suddenly its beak came out and grabbed a dragonfly. Gave me a shock but this time the autofocus didn't fail me! It's my fav shot of the day. Took another shot of the bird further down the lake. And found the Golden Web Spider here too.

Postscript: Being a bit more read up now, I wish to correct the names of the species of the birds posted in this entry. It's a Little Heron or Striated Heron in the first photo, and the Chinese Pond Heron in the second photo. I was mistaken, there was no Bittern. (1 Apr 2008)

Chup