Bona Dea Muskrat Update

Bona Dea was mostly sunny and warmer today. The water had receded quite a bit today. They were no longer pumping water out of the park. The spillway was still running but you could get around the park on all the trails without getting wet. On Waldon Pond there was a Muskrat swimming around. These look like regular rats put like to take to the water. There were a lot of Northern Cardinal pairs out today. A big Pileated Woodpecker landed in a tree close to where I was feeding the Brim fish. Its call is really loud when you are standing close to it. Eastern Kingbirds were flying around the island on Waldon Pond where the Muskrat was seen. Yesterday I went over to Beaver Trail on the east side of Black Water Swamp and the Redwing blackbirds were all over the bushes in the water.The water was pretty high in the swamp. They have put the culvert in on Waldon Way trail to drain water better between the swamp and Waldon Pond. Also a culvert in where they are building the new access road to the pumping station. At the pumping station today and yesterday was the Eastern Phoebe bird and the Cliff Swallows. They must be finding a lot of insects over Prairie Creek at the station. There was a lot of debris washed down to the retaining screen at the station from all the recent rain.