...and now for something different.

Pam and I had reason to travel to Louisville on business, and listened to our friend Krissy who suggested we had to stop at Keeneland Racetrack.  True to her word, it is a beautiful, friendly track nestled in the heart of the Bluegrass.  It's surrounded by beautiful horse farms in lush, rolling country.

I traveled with just a simple Fuji mirrorless camera, but it was fine for my purposes. Here are a few highlights.  In the paddock, I found what has to be the largest Rolex ever.

The day begins with the track "ponies" entering through the paddock.  Beautiful horses.

The thoroughbreds enter the outer paddock for some light warm-up and are quickly brought forward to be saddled.  Beautiful animals.

Of course, there is the track bugler to call the horses to the track.

Half of the day's races were on turf.  Depending on the distance of the race, the start can be right in front of the grandstands, so the break from the gate is clearly seen.

About two minutes later, the finish was again right in front of our seats. This race was a real run-away.

We had an enjoyable day at the races, and afterwards, we drove around the lane behind Keeneland to see some of the farms.  While Churchill Downs in Louisville is surrounded by a densely urban neighborhood, Keeneland is the opposite.  Parking is easy, the pace comfortable and people pretty laid back.

 And, just like the people at the track, the locals on at the farms were friendly too.

I'm guessing we'll have reason to continue our visits to Louisville, and it would be nice to again time the visit to a race day at Keeneland.

Paul

Many Happy Returns (of Spring)

While I work to digest (meaning edit) the roughly two thousand images for a trip to Patagonia, the sights of returning birds lured me to take a break from the computer.   Here are a few images ranging from ordinary subjects to interesting behaviors that are worth sharing.

No spring is right without the sight of a brilliant red Northern Cardinal ready to defend its territory from any intruder.  The call of another male was enough to pull him out of the thick cover this morning.

I was surprised to see a Palm Warbler in this stand of Red Osier along an abandoned farm road.  He was primed to sing once the day got brighter. 

The best was a group of about a dozen Yellow-rumped Warblers.  This one landed on a branch and inspected it closely.

Warblers are sharp-eyed.  This bird looked closely at the small side branch just below its beak.   See anything unusual?

I did. It plucked up the well-disguised caterpillar.

For full disclosure, I was not certain what I had seen until I got back to my computer to look more closely.  This happened extremely fast. 

This surely energized my willingness to get up early for birding and photography.

Regards,

 

Paul Schmitt