{"id":7681,"date":"2017-07-07T07:54:53","date_gmt":"2017-07-07T12:54:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/richard.rathe.org\/?p=7681"},"modified":"2019-03-06T21:19:52","modified_gmt":"2019-03-07T02:19:52","slug":"garden-of-the-gods","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/redmangrove.org\/rathe.org\/richard\/2017\/garden-of-the-gods","title":{"rendered":"Garden of the Gods"},"content":{"rendered":"

I had the opportunity to travel through Southern Illinois<\/strong> on my way back from Iowa<\/a> in June. I stopped for the night at The Garden of the Gods<\/strong>. [Gallery<\/a>]<\/p>\n

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It was late afternoon and I had just enough time to walk and photograph the major trail while the sun was setting. I took several nice photos including this HDR Panorama<\/strong>. [Click to Enlarge<\/a>]<\/p>\n

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As the day ended I heard pleasant bird song, followed it, and discovered the source was this beautiful Indigo Bunting<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

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I slept comfortably in my hammock and the next morning the same bird (?) was singing in a nearby tree! (I saw this species a half dozen times this trip\u2014more than my entire life prior!) I had a chance to observe this bird long enough to notice he was very systematic with his song. He would belt out a few bars, then turn 90\u00b0 and sing some more, repeat, repeat, new perch, repeat, repeat…<\/p>\n