Bona Dea Update

For the past few weeks Bona Dea has been very hot and humid. But the last 2 days have been cloudy and rainy. We really needed the rain. Today it rained a lot. There have been flocks of Grackles and Robin birds. They must be getting ready to migrate. The fish have been really eating the food pellets at the spillway. I was walking along Swinging Bridge trail the other day and a delta wing shaped fly of some sort started buzzing around me and then stung me on both hands. I could not get it to stay away from me even after swinging my arms around wildly. Don't know what kind it was. It or one like it buzzed me again later but I did not get stung that time. Groups of Blue-teal ducks have been swimming around in Waldon Pond. Also a Great Blue Heron has been in the area. They seemed to leave the area in the hotter summer days. Grey Squirrels are coming out and playing around. Must be this years young stretching their legs for the first time. On Bullfrog Pond I saw some Great Egrets. They are pure white large Heron type birds. When they fly they keep their necks bent and not straight like the Herons. One photo here shows one along with a Tri-colored Heron which is sorta rare around here. It is the grayish looking bird. Also on Bullfrog Pond were a group of Partridge-Pea wildflowers. The photo showing the small yellow bloom is one of them. The foliage is fern like and if you squeeze the stems the leaves will double up or close. I used to do this to them all the time as a kid. Then the other photo is of a Lavender Trumpet Bush bloom. These plants are plentiful at the park and only grow along Prarie Creek where they can get plenty of water and are actually flooded when the creek is high. The butterfly photo is of a Red-spotted Purple showing the top view. This was at the spillway.