It was a gorgeous Summer day, the third in a string of days that felt like the Summers I’d grown up with … the Summer days I dreamed about enjoying once I was retired and 100% of my time was my own.

On the third day, August 5th, I headed to Heritage Park, not to check on my chickens (if you’ll recall those antics from a previous post – please click here if you missed that one), but I was on the lookout for butterflies at the Botanical Gardens, or maybe some pretty flowers to grace my blogposts when the weather became frosty and unforgiving.

As I stepped onto the asphalt path, I was reminded that Summer can always be savored at this beautiful park.

So … where to start first?

I didn’t see anything going on at Coan Lake – once again, zero turtles on the ramp and unbelievably zero ducks and geese in the water. I attributed that to them still feeling listless and lethargic because of their annual molt.

However, I would soon learn where the majority of the waterfowl were.

Hmm – looks like the ducks have a treat angel.

The sun seemed extra-bright, almost blinding me, despite wearing sunglasses – what were all those brown blobs on the grass up ahead? Well, Your Roving Reporter’s nose for news led me right to a man, sitting in a very large, motorized scooter, throwing out a handful of corn to some eager Mallards.

He doled out several scoops which were gobbled down quickly …

The expectant faces of the ducks as they circled around him told me they were looking for more corn – yes, of course they were. The man and I chatted and he told me he lives near the park, accesses the walking path on his scooter and feeds the ducks every morning, just like clockwork.

Soon he shrugged and said “sorry, no more” and I told him how I tried that line with my squirrels to no avail as they’d follow me around looking for more peanuts.

I watched this duck waddle off – he was late to the corn party and seemed a bit pouty he missed it.

The man drove off and the rest of the ducks began leaving, BUT, about 15 geese evidently knew this morning routine well and they headed over.

The ducks had a change of heart and soon I had a passel of waterfowl coming toward me. Birdbrains … hardly! By association, they assumed I had treats too -yikes!

Well I wasn’t toting corn, so I backed up, turned on my heel and got out of Dodge.

Having successfully evaded the brigade of still-hungry ducks and geese, I headed toward the Botanical Gardens.

Enroute to the Gardens, as long-timer followers know, I must pass the Petting Farm as I walk along busy Pardee Road.

There were “escapees” once again ….

Well, this might be a lucky break for me – perhaps that very “chicken” chicken might cross Pardee this time?

I was serenaded by the rooster … first he gave me a side-eye, then he flew up to the top of the wooden fence and promptly turned his back of me, the photo you see up top.

Okay, I guess he showed me who was boss, right?

The rooster crowed incessantly, in between turning his head slightly to take a peek at me to ensure “his girls” were okay.

The chickens were just dandy, having sneaked out from under the barnyard fence, to either scratch in the dirt …

… or rest for a while.

Having taken about 20 shots of my feathered fowl friends, I continued on my way to the Botanical Gardens.

In the parking lot that is shared by the Farm and Gardens, I saw a bus and a big sign by the entrance that read “Field Trip”. They had a loudspeaker playing loud music and I heard kids’ voices.

“Aha!” I thought. The chickens and rooster escaped the noise from the kids on the field trip. Then I wondered if there would be any more “escapees” crossing my path.

I meandered around the Botanical Gardens, taking a few shots, mostly for future Wordless Wednesday posts.

But, I couldn’t help myself – I had to take this photo where the Petting Farm barnyard butts up against the Botanical Gardens. This sign tells us how much the animals enjoy seeing us. I beg to differ. 🙂

Tripping along the woodland path.

Rather than get the rooster and his girls agitated by going past them a second time, I decided to cut through the woodland trails. I hadn’t been there in a while.

These Snowballs graced the beginning of the trail.

The woods aren’t dense at all – you can see the sky through the trees. I rounded the bend to see something new, to me anyway.

There weren’t many plants, but these Coneflowers needed some of the TLC the volunteers give the flowers at the Botanical Gardens.

Suddenly I sensed some movement in the weeds at the end of the Pollinator Garden. Again … not to worry, as I mentioned before, the woods are not dense and besides … this was down low.

Now, had I heard any utterings from these two, I’d have known right away what was lurking in my path. These are Helmeted Guinea Fowl.

They were distracted while foraging and didn’t notice me at first. Then, once they saw me, they were on high alert …

… they both beat it into the bushes.

I was at Heritage Park back in 2022, when I saw four Guinea Fowl. I was told they were Lavender Guinea Fowl that live at the Farm, so I compared pics of those birds versus these birds. They look the same to me! This was my post about my first sighting of these unusual-looking-and-sounding birds.

I went to the Community Gardens and chatted it up with one of the gardeners while looking for photo ops. She was setting a trap for some groundhogs who have been ravaging everyone’s veggie gardens. I noticed many of the veggies were covered by netting to deter the beasts. I commiserated with her and, of course, I had to go into my own story about the groundhog who ate my Twist-and-Shout Hydrangeas, before burrowing into my backyard foundation. I hired a pest removal service to trap and relocate him/her, but all we got were two possums, which I had to pay $75.00 apiece to have them removed.

Splish-splash I was taking a bath ….

Back at the historical area of Heritage Park, a lot of honking was going on … no, not car horns, but geese. Well, as I paused on the grassy slopes around Coan Lake, I filled up the camera card a bit more as these Canada Geese splashed around, cooling off and likely relieving the itchiness of new feathers growing in during their annual molt.

They sure looked like they were enjoying themselves.

If some of the geese weren’t in the mood to be splashed, it looks like they had no choice as they got splashed anyway. This goose looks disgusted with the antics!

Of course a Summer splash is nice, but the geese don’t have a fluffy towel to dry off, so they have to flap their wings wildly. This first goose facing the seawall looks like a Cormorant, or maybe a flasher. The second goose takes a more elegant approach.

I am not joining Terri’s Sunday Stills Challenge: “Stairs/Steps” this week, but I will join The Flower Hour and also Pepper’s Challenge One Step at a Time.