Disc Golf Course Update

On Tuesday 06-21-11 Mr. Paul Ray came down for us to go on another wildlife Safari. These photos on this post were taken at the Disc Golf Course not far from the world famous Bona Dea Sanctuary. He took most of these photos with his camera equipment. We'll save the best for first. I had been trying to locate and photo the Baltimore Oriole birds that were at this place and Bona Dea. And so far this year no such fortune. But we stayed with it and patience paid off as we were able to see one. They stay in the very high canopy of the tall trees which this time of year have heavy foliage. So it is hard to spot them. But we followed this one bird and she suddenly disappeared. I thought that strange and started looked at the spot where she disappeared and then I spied her nest. They build their nest in hanging baskets that look like are put together with a spider web with leaves and small limps in it. There are 2 photos here of that nest. One showing a brighter clear representation of the makeup and the other showing the female in the nest. It was unusual to me to note that this nest was right above the main parking lot where a lot of people come and go every day. I also saw some more nests in trees closer to the water a few days later. There is a photo showing the female on a limb with the nest at the lower right. Then another showing her peering into the nest fixing to get it and further lay and or incubate her eggs as they had not hatched by this time. The other 2 Oriole photos are of the male of this pair. It is a poor photo as I had my camera a few days later and had to hurry to catch it in the open. I did see another male and a different location at this park and it was a much bigger and prettier specimen. It could be that when these eggs hatch both parents will be feeding the young and will be closer in photo range. Other Oriole photos. While in the parking lot we saw this real pretty Common Buckeye butterfly-Junonia coenia. It landed right next to our vehicle wheels. There have been some plants growing in the water and were grouped close together and I had never seen these before in this area. So I wanted to ID them. They were over on a small island and you could not get a close up without swimming over or taking a boat. These are Cattail plants-Typha latifolia. This photo here shows a close up of the cat tails starting to form at the top of the plant. They are called mature male & female flower spikes. Also real close to this area is a big Crossvine plant that had a lot of blooms this year. It also had a lot of Bumble Bees and other bees and wasps all over it in early spring. But now the blooms had disappeared leaving these seed pods that look like green beans. I was holding this string of seed pods but did not want my gorgeous Elvis Presley body to distract from this post. So I cropped myself out and here is some info on the Crossvine. This Fox Squirrel-Sciurus niger, was begging Mr. Ray to take its photo. So he said ok and look at this pose. In this same area was a Northern Mockingbird-Mimus polyglottos. Like the Oriole it was staying pretty close to the same tree and after further review we noticed it also had a nest. This nest was pretty close to the ground but was also in the parking area where people go right by it. One photo shows it in the tree close to the nest with a insect in its mouth. The other photo shows it on the nest after it had fed the little ones. Last but not least was this Scissor-tailed Flycatcher-Tyrannus forficatus-that was flying around the park and it landed in this tree right beside the parking lot also. Seems like everything today was right in the same area where we parked our vehicles. You can really see its scissor tail in this photo of it chasing a flying insect. They actually have 2 double tails. They are beautiful in flight and this year there are more of them here and at Bona Dea and also in town than I have ever seen.

Wasp and Caterpillar action

This video clip shows a Thread-waisted Wasp working furiously to cover up and fill in a hole to its nest where it has just deposited a big Speckled Green Fruitworm Moth-caterpillar for food for whenever the eggs in the nest hatch and then the new larvae will eat it.

Bona Dea and Disc Golf Course Update

This area of nature has really been hot and humid as of the past few weeks. With highs in the high 90's f and heat indexes over 100. Only scattered occasional showers. The Canadian Geese have really been doing their thing and I have not seen so many families of so many little ones. This especially along Pleasant View road on the way to the Disc Golf Course. Also several have been killed on the road. The water pools at Bona Dea are holding up pretty well in the heat. They should with all the flooding there just recently as shown in previous posts. There have been several Baltimore Oriole birds at both places. The males being especially pretty. Have not taken photos of any yet but hope to later on before they leave out. I was following a guy at Bona Dea close to the parking lot when I noticed him beating something in the grass. I ran up there and it was a King Snake. I got him to stop but it was too late. This is a wildlife sanctuary and people are not allowed to kill or catch anything wildlife there. He did not know a king snake from any other snake but they have their place on earth too. People also pick the flowers when they are at their peak. On 06-03-11 I saw a real pretty Wild Sweet Potato Vine. This is actually and type of Morning Glory flower. They do make tubers also. That is the root part you can eat. This is the white flower with a burgundy center. This was very close to the gazebo by the main parking lot. The other photos here were taken at various times at the Disc Golf Course which is very close to Bona Dea. This is very strange but even though the photos were taken on different days, they were all taken right beside the small iron bridge by the parking lot. Just shows you what can happen when you have the patience to just stay put and let things come to you. I can say this easily as I have a bad foot and do not go as far as I used to.Put at the north end of the bridge was this good specimen of a Black-eyed Susan- Rudbeckia hirta-wildflower. It is the pic of the yellow flower. Then on the south end of the bridge right next to it was this Common Spreadwing damselfly- Lestes disjunctus. This is a small dragonfly. It is the pic showing small splotches of blue on head and tail areas resting on the rock. In this same area around the bridge were 2 Prairie Racerunner-males- (Aspidoscelis sexlineata viridis). These are a type of lizard. These 2 were running around chasing each other and grabbing at each other. They were so excited that they were this beautiful and bright green and blue. They don't show this brightly when in normal temperament. .They have long tails and move very fast when they want to. Their tails come off on purpose when something grabs them. But the other day, I really saw something interesting. I have seen this action before many times but have not taken photos of this occurrence and really did not know what all was going on until I researched it. But literally at my feet was this wasp that was trying to carry this big worm/caterpillar around. I knew that it had killed it or was going to but did not know what it was going to do with it. Soooooooooo, I just kept watching. Then I saw it. It was taking it to a hole in the ground not far from my feet and the bridge. I then managed to scare the wasp away and took and hid the worm until I could run to get my camera out of the vehicle. I was hoping that it would stay around until I got back. I got the worm and put it back where I got it and sure nuff the wasp came back and started to carry it to the hole. I took several photos and these are some of them. One showing it with its jaws around the caterpillar and others showing it putting the worm in the hole and another showing it backing up to the hole and actually kicking small loose debris into the hole to fill it up. Also showing it carrying debris in its jaws and depositing it into the hole and finally showing the hole totally filled up. The wasp then padded the debris down pretty hard so you could not even tell a hole had been there. Research shows that this process is when this Thread-waisted Wasp - Ammophila procera, finds a caterpillar it carries it to its nest in the ground where it has already laid its eggs. Then it covers the nest and hole up so no other wasp or predator can find it. Then later the eggs hatch and the wasp larve/caterpillars will eat this food source so they can grow and then crawl out of the hole and turn into wasps. Wow!!! By the way, this really big lime green caterpillar/larvae is of a Speckled Green Fruitworm Moth-(Orthosia hibisci). A close up pic of it is here and also is a pic of what the worm/caterpillar/larvae would have turned into had it lived and not been turned into foot for other types of larvae. Wow!!! Also the video shown in prior post shows the wasp furiously trying to cover up and fill in the hole before I mess with it again.

Disc Golf Course Update

For the past few days I have been going to the Disc Golf Course again. The mosquitoes and gnats have been really bad at Bona Dea and also the Golf Course. So I have not been prowling around on the trails very much. Especially close to any water. So these photos were taken at the Disc Golf Course. I saw this man in a boat going under the iron bridge that I was walking on so I thought this would be a barber pole boat. Wonder why?? At Pleasant View park and the Golf Course there are several families of Canadian Geese and just had to take a cute shot of this gosling by itself. There were some pretty purple very small wildflowers growing in the turf of the Disc Golf Course. They are Common Venus' Looking-glass- Triodanis perfoliata. The one with 5 petals. There were several long tooth brush looking bluish lavender wildflowers growing from small tender vines. These are Cow Vetch-Vicia cracca. They are a different variety from that taken on a recent post. Then a group pic showng them close together in bunches. There was a group of real pretty tall yellow wildflowers growing together and no where else in the park that I saw. The are Large-flower Tickseed- Coreopsis grandiflora. Look at the pretty pattern on the large yellow bloom. Right close to the parking lot there was a bird at the edge of the water I saw while driving away. I had to stop and take a closer look at this wading bird. It was a Yellow-crowned Night Heron-Nyctanassa violacea. It looks pretty serious don't it.

Bona Dea Update

As mentioned in this blog recently, there was tremendous flooding at Bona Dea. I believe this was the worst I have ever seen and lasted longer. The spillway and most of the trails were completely under water to the extent that the various pools/ponds and all creeks were actually all meshed together. Only a few high spots were available for wildlife to go to. I know that there was a similar flood a few years back in the winter months and the number and kinds of mammals and amphibians have decreased. For instance, I used to see extremely large needle nose Smooth Softshell Turtles. Also used to see many large Copperhead snakes. I have been wanting to get photos of both of these for some time at Bona Dea. This photo shows a look from the spillway and downstream of Prairie Creek. You can see how high the water line was at the peak of flooding. This was between 8 and 10 feet. This was the creek and close to the lowest part of the park. The other photo shows the water line being about 4 to 5 feet on Waldon Pond at the other side of the spillway. While I was taking these photos, a Muskrat-Ondatra zibethicus came swimming up Prairie Creek. So I suppose it survived the flooding. Also as I was leaving this area, I saw a low spot on Swinging Bridge Trail that was under water the day before and then I was there and could not cross over put saw at this low spot, where the water was moving like something was there. I got as close as I could and decided it was fish going back and forth from Goose and Waldon Ponds. So I then figured out that the night before, Raccoons had been having a feast on the fish as they would be easy to catch. This photo is of the numerous Coon tracks just in that one area of the trail.I then went over to Beaver Trail. There I found the birds. I had just crossed over the bridge and saw this pretty yellow Prothonotary Warbler-Profonotaria citrea. These are the front and rear views. A little ways down the trail I heard this Red-bellied Woodpecker-Melanerpes carolinus, just pecking away. Don't know why it is red bellied but it is pretty with the big red splash on its head. When I left the park and was close to my vehicle, I just had to take this beautiful sunset to end the day.

Disc Golf Course Update

I have been going to the Disc Golf Course quite a bit in the past few weeks. This is a place not far from Bona Dea and offers some unique features as I have talked about before. The flooding that has occurred here in the past 2 weeks have not effected this property as much. These photos included here shows some of the last couple of weeks takes. There were a pair of Brown-headed Cowbirds in a tree and this photo shows a closeup of one looking at me with the very brown head and neck and coal black body and looking at me. They actually don't usually build their own nests but rob the nests of other birds and lay their eggs right next to the other bird's eggs. There is a city baseball and softball park on the way to this area and I saw 4 or 5 Canadian Geese families. This is a photo of one of them. These small yellow butterflies were all over the place. They are Cloudless Sulphur-Phoebis sennae, this pic is of a female. Notice the bright green nodules or cheeks on the sides of the head. Click on all photos to enlarge. There was a group of daisy like wildflowers I only saw at this one particular spot by the waters edge. They were Common Fleabane. They got this name as a long time ago they were ground up and used to protect one from fleas. This photo is of the very small white blooms with yellow centers. This Green Heron water wading bird was in a thick foliage tree right on the water's edge. It was bent over preening itself. Very pretty brown neck and greenish blue back and wing feathers. This mean looking critter is a Green Lacewing insect Larvae-Neuroptera Chrysopidae. I saw this purple worm looking insect on some flower blooms. It actually eats all the bad bugs. So it is a goodie not a baddie. This insect was found on a commonYarrow-Achillea millefolium-Wildflower. You can see the closeup of the blooms with this very small insect in the middle. There was a Northern Mockingbird just singing away very loudly and heard all over the park. It was flying from the very highest part of the trees. This is the grey and white bird in top of the tree. It is the state bird of Arkansas. There are several pairs of these very pretty and impressive birds. They are Scissor-tailed Flycatcher-Tyrannus forficatus. They seem to have 2 very long tails. This one was on a limb with vehicles in the background. I had just walked over the narrow arched bridge off the parking lot to the course/park and saw a long green snake crawling along. Some young men were com ing toward me and they had been playing disc golf. One of them spotted this snake and ran and caught it by the tail. A no no. It turned to bite him and he used the other hand to catch it behind the head. He then held it up that way for everyone else to see and asked if anyone wanted to pet it. I won't say what some of them said to him. He then released it. It took off to the water and heavy brush before I could photo it. I walked just a few few further down and another one the exact same size was crawling toward where the other one was. I was able to get these photos of it. It is a Speckled Kingsnake-Lampropeltis holbrooki. They eat other snakes and especially like poisonous snakes just before bedtime. I have seen this vine like small flower plants all over the place and decided that it was a type of ground cover that the authorities had planted along with Wild Oats and Red Clover. All three were mixed and were growing together. This park is a land reclamation project which used to be coal strip mining property. It turns out to be Spring or Garden Vetch-Vicia sativa. It is a type of ground cover. It is the photo with the small redish pink bloom. It's seeds contain Cyanide and very toxic to humans and animals. I wonder if the many White Tailed Deer out there eat that stuff. Humm!! Speaking of the deer. The other day, I saw several grazing on the part of the park that was cut real low and full of Red Clover at the very far end. There were several real small fawns. Click on fawns to see a video of close to what I saw.