Bona Dea Update

Bona Dea the last few days have been very hot, over 100 degrees F., and humid and sunny. You really bake out there and most birds have been staying inside with the air conditioning. The fish however have been eating pretty well at the spillway. Also the dragonflies and butterflies are plentiful. The photo showing the smaller butterfly on a leaf is a Silver-spotted Skipper. The skippers have the smaller sail shaped wings and are small in size. I also saw a really beautiful Tiger Swallowtail yellow butterfly on Old Shorty Trail and it landed on my leg. Also at the Gazebo I saw a Red-admiral butterfly. It has the orange border and a black body.It is strange but it too landed on my leg. I must smell really sweet. Today, Saturday, I took these photos of a Black Cherry Tree. There are 2 of them right next to the main parking area of the park. The fruit in this photo looks red but when they ripen they will be black. You can eat them and make jelly and wine. Also a photo of the tree. I also saw a web holding several Fall Webworms. They are actually larva/caterpillars of a very small white moth. They eat the leaves on the trees and can strip a whole tree. These were in a Shellbark Hickory tree. In the coseup photo of the worms you can see 2 of the hickory nuts just coming on. While I was tracking down butterflies, I stumbled upon a Southern Yellow Jacket Wasp nest in the ground around an old tree stump. I am really happy about not stepping on the nest. See the video posted below showing these going in and out of the nest. Sorry for the poor quality of the video.