Bona Dea Catfish, Musk Turtle and more Update

Bona Dea was sunny and actually hot today. There was a little wind making it more tolerable. They have finally started mowing the park yesterday and today. They have mowed most of the area where I took most of the wildflower photos. I am glad they waited this long. But the reason is that they have given the job to new people. On Swinging Bridge Trail the blackberries have started to form. This photo shows 2 red berries. They will turn black when ripe. But someone will probably pick them before I take a photo. At the spillway there were a pair of Green Heron wading birds flying around Waldon Pond and landing in various trees. The funny thing is that the male was carrying some nesting material around in its mouth and chasing the female all over the place. He must be trying to get her to start nesting. This photo is of one of them. I fed the fish as usual and among the eaters were Brim fish and a flathead or mud catfish. Also a Red-ear Slider turtle. A photo showing the catfish with whiskers and a food pellet floating at its head. It is starting to eat it. I caught a Musk Turtle out of the water and placed it on dry land to take this photo showing how small this adult is next to the green pea size food pellets that I use. One photo showing its webbed front foot. The Yellow bellied watersnake was playing around in the down flow of the spillway and after this photo it dived under the rocks. On the way out on the trails there were several Red Admiral butterflies and had to take this distance shot of one. Also playing around the area was this young Cottontail bunny rabbit eating on the green grass. Great Blue Heron wading birds were out on the various banks and blackbirds were flying around. Also a flock of small ducks flew over that may have been Blue Teal or Wood Ducks. The Canadian Geese have not been seen in a few weeks now. A muskrat was swimming in Black Water Swamp. No alligator seen today. The water in the ponds is still high and they are still pumping the water out of the park.