Bona Dea Update

Bona Dea was sunny and warmer but still cool. There were 3 Cormorants on the old snag on Lake Dardanelle by the park. On Swinging Bridge Trail there were a flock of Carolina Chickadee birds in the trees along the trail and making a lot of noise. At the old swinging bridge by the creek a Northern Flicker Woodpecker was flying from tree to tree. A pair of Pileated Woodpecks were flying following each other across the creek. Some Acadian Flycatchers were in the trees but not as many as seen before. The basking turtles were on their log in Goose Pond. I fed the Bluegill Brim fish and some were pretty good size and they were hungry today. The unusual site today was a flock of Black Vultures flying over Waldon Pond. They came over at least twice. Then one single Turkey Vulture flew over. Turkey Vultures are the most numerous there by far. The Black Vultures have black skin heads and Turkey ones have a redish skin head and both have no feathers on their heads. The Black ones flap their wings real often and have shorter wings with white wing tips. The Turkey ones soar more and flap their wings less. Northern Cardinals were calling out to each other all over the place. Gulls were still around and flying high overhead. Haven't seen the Great Blue Heron around Waldon Pond or spillway area in quite a while. They may be nesting somewhere. The female Goose on the island in Waldon Pond was still on her nest with the male mate on the west end of Waldon Pond keeping a look out. Here is a photo of a White-and-Black Warbler that I talked about in yesterday's post. Also when I left the park, I saw a beautiful great big orange moon coming up over the easter horizon. Just had to take this photo. The red and black paper wasps had found a nesting spot on one of the support beams on the old swinging bridge. They seem to be all over the place. Gnats were starting to swarm in the late afternoon sun. Saw some new wildflowers just starting to spring forth and will probably take some photos whene they grow more. One looke like a purple wild violet of some sort and the other small bright yellow flowers. May Apples talked about yesterday have started to spring up in this area today. The trees are now losing their buds and starting to leaf out. Starting to look more and more like Springtime.