Bona Dea Update

Bona Dea was mostly cloudy and cooler Tuesday. Crossing Parkway Hwy I saw a single Double-crested Cormorant on the old snag and several Pied-billed Grebes swimming and diving. There were Gulls floating in the water and Turkey Vultures and more Gulls flying overhead. No Bald Eagles this time. Also some American Crows were flying from tree to tree by the waters edge and close to the highway. At the Spillway birds were doing their thing. Several Carolina Chickadees were around and being noisy as usual. With them were some Tufted Titmouse's. I got a photo of one showing its topnot. Also there were several downy woodpeckers and got a good shot of this small black and white woodpecker. There was a Blue-headed Vireo on the trunk of a Willow tree at the base of the spillway but it flew off to parts unknown. Photo of one in a recent post. The flying insects were all around and they attracted the Blue-gray Gnatcatcher and I managed a poor photo of one on a limb and another showng it taking off to catch a bug. There were Robins all around and Northern Cardinals singing away in the distance. On Waldon Pond by the spillway a pair of Canadian Geese rounded the corner and I got a photo of them. One was looking at me like what was I doing invading their privacy. The surprise of the day was seeing a Belted Kingfisher. It was in a tree a long ways off and I got a shot of it looking forward and another one looking backward. It is a blue bird sorta like a Blue Jay with a white ring around its neck and blue head. Very pretty don't you think. They sit in trees waiting for a fish to surface and then they fly down very fast to pluck in out of the water. I have seen this several times. They make a sound with they are flying and just before they land somewhere. Down swinging bridge trail I took a photo of a cluster of yellow Daffodils that had just bloomed in the last 2 days. This means Spring has arrived in these parts. Several Blue Teal Ducks were spooked by some onlookers and flew past me very fast. Also some Mallard Ducks flying overhead. The Vultures and Gulls were flying there also. Also saw a woodland Sparrow which from a distance looked like the White-throated variety but it flew off very fast. For some reason I did not see any basking Turtles this time. Maybe because it was cloudy and colder today. On the way back on the trail I saw several Red Bats flying over Waldon Pond doing the same thing as the Gnatcatcher, catching insects. Also spotted an American Crow perched in the very top of a tree in the same area as the Kingfisher. I got a far away photo of this big black bird.