Silly Saturday ...

... Ballas Park collage.

For our walk today we were going to go to the Plainfield Rail Trail but then changed our minds and went to Ballas Park instead.  I wanted to check out all the wildflowers that usually grow there.  Sadly, it looks like they recently mowed the field so there were very few flowers growing.  And we only saw a handful of butterflies as a result.  We did hear lots of bird though.  In fact, the Merlin app recorded 13 different bird species in the hour that we were there.  Included in that total were a couple of warblers (yellow and Tennessee), several sparrow types, cedar waxwings, indigo buntings and some fly/gnat catchers!  That's the short list!

After walking along the trail we stopped at the small pond on the property to look for whatever we could find.  Among our finds was this silly American toad wearing a silly "hat"!  And there were several people fishing ... the pond is catch and release only.  This young lady was with her grandfather and she was doing all the catching!  The lovely dog was with them.  I asked his name but they either didn't hear me or ignored the question!

After leaving the park we stopped at a few stores and then returned home for the rest of the day.  It was a great day spent in fantastic company.  ♥