Bona Dea Update

Bona Dea was mostly sunny this afternoon and very windy. It had rained 1.84 inches in past 24 hours. The authorities had not been pumping the water from Prairie Creek and it was really full. The water ponds at the park were full. The Blue-gill Brim fish in the creek were trying to swim up the small waterfall at the spillway. They made noise splashing the water with their tails as they tried it. None were successful. The fish were hungry today and took the hard feed pellets more often than usual. The low land area at the old swinging bridge was flooded all the way to the upper trail. No wildlife seen in this area. I moved from that area to the western end of the park and on Beaver Trail. There the birds were around. There were some swallow type birds either Purple Martins, Chimney Swifts or Cliff Swallows. They would dive down and touch the water. Red Wing Blackbirds were all over Black Water Swamp. A lot of males and one really pretty one and females. Northern Cardinal were all over that area. The Alligator was not at its regular place for the past week. But bingo, a friend of mine who was with me was looking at a Muskrat swimming and accidentally caught a glimpse of an Alligator tail. Then we looked through his binoculars and saw the entire Alligator. Here is the photo. I suppose the high water and caused it to move to another location. There were Wood Ducks in the back water of Prairie Creek up toward the Big Bridge. Others were seen flying over Black Water Swamp. There were a very young Canadian Goose pair at the swamp. On the way back in, I saw a Fox Sparrow who took off before I could take its photo. It was scratching away in the ground like a chicken looking for food.