Bona Dea Flood Video-06-11-10

Spillway Flood Video-06-11-10

Bona Dea tree Update

Bona Dea was sunny and warm the last 2 days. I am still doing the trees at the Park. But I fed the fish at the spillway and the Green Heron is still on her nest by the spillway. Also a male Prothonatary Warbler came by. It is really a pretty bright yellow bird. I will post a photo of one I took some time ago at the park. Also a flock of Canadian Geese few over the park. I have not seen them in quite some time. And also no Alligator. Don't know where it has gone. No snakes seen in some time. Tufted Titmouse and Carolina Chickadee and Carolina Wren birds have been around the spillway or Swinging Bridge Trail the last few days. For some reason the Blue Jay Birds are numerous. I have taken a lot of tree photos lately and will try to get some more to have a collection for the photo albums of the park. These tree photos from top down are: Willow Oak Tree, Water Oak Tree, Redbud Tree, Red Pine Tree, Red Maple Tree, Pecan Tree and Green Ash Tree.

Bona Dea trees Update

Bona Dea has been sunny and warm for the last 2 days. Mosquitoes have been out in force. Ouch!!! Also the last couple of days I have been working on trees at the Park. The only birds I have seen much seem to be Blue Jays. Have seen the Green Heron on the nest by the spillway. Also some more of the yellow mushrooms I talked about in a previous post are popping up more. The Common or Eastern Pondhawk dragonflies are pretty numerous. But on Swinging Bridge Trail yesterday and on Old Shorty Trail today, I have been doing trees. It won't be long before the leaves start to change color and they will be harder to ID. So I have posted some photos here of the trees. The name of the trees and other details such as leaves and bark can be found by clicking on the Bona Dea Trees link in the right column. Hope you enjoy the trees at the park. The photos here shows the trees from top to bottom in this order: Yellowwood Tree, Sycamore Tree, Southern-poplar Tree, Northern Red Oak Tree, Common Juniper Tree-looks like a cedar, and Black Hickory Tree.

Bona Dea deer, plants Update

Bona Dea was hot and sunny today,Friday. We were supposed to get rain a day to two ago but no go. I have 2 photos of a Common Hoptree. One shows the white blooms closeup and the other shows the blooms and leaves. And 2 photos of a Sweetgum Tree and then a single leaf. The Hoptrees are all over the park. So are the Sweetgum Trees but these photos were taken of one at the spillway. Yesterday I saw a Whitetail Deer on the dike close to my parking place when I was leaving. The yellow mushroom is a Cantharellus minor, what a name, on the deer trail above the spillway. The Green Heron is still on her nest and is not afraid of me anymore as she did not move when I went there to feed the fish. Mr. Flathead Catfish came to eat today. Not really much bird activity at the park today. It is getting so hot they are not moving around much. However a Belted Kingfisher was on Waldon Pond looking for a fish to catch. Also I noticed that several Dragonflies were darting over the water and actually dipping their abdomen into the water. These are females that are depositing their eggs which will hatch into larva. Very interesting!!! In the woods the small moths were flying close to the ground. Haven't seen Mr. Alligator in some time now. Must be too hot to move around much.

Bona Dea butterfly, wildflowers, Update

Bona Dea was sunny and very warm and humid today, Wednesday. On Swinging Bridge Trail there was a pretty Eastern Tailed-Blue female butterfly. This photo shows the bright orange spots on the lower wing and the 2 short tails coming from the wings by the orange spots. When she opened up she was a beautiful brown. She would land closed up so couldn't photo the brown color. At the spillway, the Herons were still nesting and the male came around and did not like be being there and started telling me to leave. The fish were fed again as usual. Some Tufted Titmouse and Carolina Chickadee birds came for a visit. On across the spillway the Northern Cardinals were there playing around. The ground moths were all over the place and also in other areas of the park. But guess what? There were no mosquitoes over there today. Must the the dry warm weather. Also some dragonflies were darting around and mostly pond hawks. I went over to Bull Frog Pond as I had not been there in a while and it has really grown up as the new people doing the mowing did not go around the pond. But that is good for the wildflowers. Wow!!! What a find. I new the Mimosa Trees would be in bloom and were they. These 2 photos shows their really pretty redish pink blooms. Also saw 2 different species of Daisy wildflowers. They are the big yellow flowers. The photo showing the fewer and rounded petals are the Brown-eyed Susan. And the photo showing the more numerous and longer petals are the Black-eyed Susan. Also underneath the Mimosa Trees were some fern plants. These are the Common Polybody and are many in number around there. The photo shows very fine branches. This was a good day for color to say the least. I also saw a bird that just flew in and out and could not photo but it had a yellow chest and a beak like a finch or grosbeak and a solid olive green back and tail. Never saw one of those before.

Bona Dea Update

Bona Dea was sunny and very hot. In the mid 90's and humid. The mosquitoes were really swarming. Also the chiggers like to bite too. Yesterday, Monday, I took this photo of a snake skin by the pumping station. The snakes shed their skin each year and leave the old one behind. On the trail by the pumping station there was a lone Black-eyed Susan daisy wildflower. It has rounded petals and more of them where the Tickseed yellow follows are toothed at the ends. Also on this trail was a female Eastern Forktail Damselfly. It has a pretty orange color. The big Yellow bellied Watersnake came to the spillway for a visit but I scared it out into the water when I got too close. The female Green Heron actually stayed on her nest while I fed the fish. Today, Tuesday, I stayed close to the parking area and went on Old Shorty Trail. Boy, the mosquitoes were bad even there. I spotted these plants in an area that stays wet this time of year and is actually floods when it rains even a little bit. I thought the white seed heads were unusual and hope to ID one of these days. Also there was a solid blue Spider Wasp or perhaps a Blue Mud Dauber wasp on the trail. This is a poor photo as I took it too fast as it was moving pretty fast and that was the last shot left in the camera. But it really stood out on the ground with the blue color. May get a better shot later.