A Beautiful Day at the Park

When we first arrived we saw this big bird standing near the edge of the lake. Gerrick recognized it from a library book, but couldn't remember the name. But no worries...we had the book with us! We believe it is a great blue heron.



We walked around a while, but honestly it wasn't very enjoyable watching people pelt geese and ducks with bread. We found a quiet spot for a picnic and then spent some time painting. Gerrick made several paintings, but decided that his favorite was the one he made of "the creek" near our house.





After playing on the playground for over an hour, he wanted to look at the water fowl again. This time we decided to hike through the wetlands at the edge of the park. This was a much more pleasant experience. We saw large flocks of gulls, a few turtles sunning on logs, lots of duck and goose tracks, bird nests high in trees, and more.


Mallard ducks...



Canada geese...


a goose on her nest...


American coot (identified later at home in this book)...


white egret...


several 12- to 18"-long fish trapped in a shallow pool...


a mystery egg shell...