Bona Dea Update

Bona Dea was cloudy and mild today. Nice day to be outside. The new pumping station road they had started a few months back looks like almost finished. It doesn't look as bad as I thought it would after they took down so many trees and shrubs. Most of them will actually grow back along the wooded side. Will photo one of these days. At the spillway, I fed the fish consisting of Blue Gill Brim and Flathead Catfish and Musk Turtles. The other day I saw this Yellow bellied Water Snake up on top of the spillway. Today I saw a Green Heron over Waldon Pond. They were nesting by the spillway but left their nest for some reason. But this one finally landed on a log below the spillway in Prairie Creek. One photo shows it just standing on the log and the other one shows that it was all shook up, ruffled, as I kept mocking it and it thought it was threatened. It sure stuck its head up in the air and feathers standing out. Looks twice the size. Along swinging bridge trail I saw a Buttonbush shrub or small tree with its seed heads. When the white spores leave the head there will be green balls. 2 of them on either side of the large head with spores. Then the green balls will turn black later in the year and ducks and other water birds will eat them. They are sometimes called honey balls. Don't think I want to try them. I have tried to trick the fish into eating them. While at the spillway a flock of Tufted Titmouse and Carolina Chickadee birds along with a few Northern Cardinals came for a visit. Went to the old swinging bridge but did not see any snakes or turtles or birds. On the way out I saw a White Tail deer standing right beside the trail. I just walked right up on it and I guess it wanted its picture taken. Looks like the same one I have seen and photoed before in that general area. When I got to my vehicle on the Dike by Lake Dardanelle, I saw a family of boaters and they said I could take their photo. Then another one of two fishermen close to the Dike further up. It is the forth of July holiday weekend here, Independence Day, and people are heading for the parks and lakes. Then when I opened by truck door I noticed a pair of bugs on my truck seat. I took these 2 photos of them. They were attached and pulling each other around on the seat. They were Rice Stink Bugs. Research shows that they mate most of their adult like. Well it looks like it here. I guess they have learned from humans. LOL