The rain stopped overnight but it remains gray with some fog. The weather hasn't stopped the birds from singing, however. I walked the campground roads surrounded by calling birds. Migrating tennessee warblers are singing everywhere. A pair of pileated woodpeckers flew over me with their wings making heavy labored "frump frump" sounds. Indigo buntings are singing in the clearings with hooded warblers deeper in the woods. I did see one magnolia warbler.

I returned to camp and checked all the equipment. The flash is not working which could limit the possibilities-especially on days like this. Everything powers up, the external power supply is fine, and the pilot is on but it will not fire. Nothing in the manual. I cannot order a new one from B&H because I am moving too fast. I will have to work on it later, hoping it is some simple fix.

I left the park around noon, stopping on the way to check out the territorial Kentucky Warbler from last week. He did not let me down and I shot a few more images. For the most part the weather made this stop a disappoinment. My next stop will be Onondaga Cave State Park in Missouri. Their claim to fame is a spectacular, lighted, cathedral like cave.

Traveling without any rain made for a fast trip except for an unwanted detour through downtown St. Louis just as a Cardinals baseball game let out. I missed my exit when a traffic jam clogged both exit lanes and I could not make the exit. TomTom nicely took me through downtown ( I can't blame it for not knowing about the game). The second corner I turned put me into 3 blocks of red-shirted fans but the lights were with me and it worked out quite well.

Onondaga Cave SP has huge sites with long paved drives and patio sides. Nicely mowed and surrounded by large hills. Many of the sites were reserved for the weekend but I had my choice of a half dozen. A huge negative, however, is that it seems to be in a communication black hole. The cell phone surrenders immediately and doesn't even try to get out. The park host informed me I could walk up a maintenance road out the back to get to the top of the hill where cell phones would work. It was a two mile round trip with the last half mile of the hill quite steep. Thankfully (for the host's sake) I was able to call home and touch base.