UPDATE FOR 05-03-2014

Mississippi Kite-Ictinia mississippiensis-On Old Shorty Trail-05-03-14. This is a bird love story. I was walking the trail

when I looked up in a tree and saw this female. I watched for a long time and then its mate flew down from nowhere and they mated and then he flew off. This happened 4 or 5 times and then they both flew off. Have never seen this specie in this area before. I only had an ipod for a camera. The poor photo is in the middle of the others which are borrowed photos of the mating process and the male flying over the female and close up of the front and back of a similiar bird. These photos shows it all exactly as it looked to me.

Update for 07-31-13

On 07-31-13 I was walking along Old Shorty Trail by the main east parking area when I saw this vine wildflower that I have never seen there or anywhere else before. It turns out to be a fairly common wildflower. It is the State of Tennessee official wildflower. It is a Passionflower or Purple Passion flower-Passiflora incarnata. I think it is very pretty. Here is some information on it: "Also called wild passion flower, purple passionflower, purple passion vine, maypop, apricot vine. Rare or threatened in Indiana and Ohio; considered weedy or invasive in some areas. This is the state wildflower of Tennessee. The name of this unusual flower relates to the resemblance of the floral parts to aspects of the crucifixion story. The 10 petal-like parts represent the disciples, excluding Peter and Judas; the 5 stamens the wounds Jesus received; the knob-like stigmas the nails; the fringe the crown of thorns."

You might want to check out this love affair with a African Ring Neck Dove. This taken on a visit to the Driftwood Nature Center at Lake Tenkiller State Park in Oklahoma, USA on 03-25-2013. Click on underline above.

Have a very Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year!!

 

Update 06-25-12

Boy it has sure been hot around here. Temp went to 108 degrees F. today. This was a record for this area. No rain in sight and the farmers and ranchers are hurting big time. Have not done much at Bona Dea lately as I cracked my right heel trying to kill myself by falling off my back porch. Now I have 2 bad wheels. Fell a couple of years ago at Bona Dea and have nerve damage in the other foot. But back on 06-13-12 I had the opportunity to go to a very remote area in the Upper Big Piney Wilderness Area in the Ozark Mountains. Mr. Paul Ray went along and took his camera and some photos. I have them posted on facebook here. They contain shots of a homestead over 100 years old. Old original furniture, insects, birds, trees, flowers and Piney Creek. The photos here shows just a sample and their descriptions can be found at the before mentioned link above. I have a photo of my great great maternal grandfather's home close to the same area that looks like this one. Also the last photos on the album are of Freeman Springs which is on hwy 7 North of Dover, AR, USA. My grandmother used to work there years ago when people came up there to take the mineral baths and stay at the hotel or ajoining cabins. The flower shown here and several in the album shows Moore's Larkspur which is only found in this area and no where else in the world. Once again, I hope you will visit this site and see something you won't see very often.

Bona Dea Update and Others

Bona Dea has been pretty busy these days with more and more people coming to the Park. I have been going late in day to avoid the traffic on the trails. There seems to be more and more Baltimore Orioles at the park this year than ever before. There is a very pretty male on Old Shorty Trail by the main parking area with his mate. Haven't either had a camera or haven't had a good shot of him. He like all others like to stay hid way up in the tree canopies. Haven't seen the Gator this year but haven't tried too hard. I heard it was seen earlier this year. In the past few weeks a friend of mine, Paul Ray, and myself have been going to other places to take some photos. He has a new Canon Full Frame camera and assorted lens and we have traveled around a bit. Last week we went to Mt. Magazine State Park, Arkansas USA and he took some photos.and I have been screening and editing them. I have a link highlighted in this sentence that will take you to the album. Take note of the very pretty Scarlet Tanager bird. He was high in the trees but turned out really well. I have attached the photo of it here. Also some good butterfly pics and many other birds as well. Old Big Foot was found up there and Paul was able to catch him running up the hill as he was mad his photo was taken. Click here for the album photos. A few weeks earlier we went to Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge in Oklahoma, USA. That was an interesting trip also. Enclosed here is a Common Goldeneye female Duck and a Whitetail deer that was trying to hide from us. Mr. Ray had taken several some photos on other trips there and can be seen here. Last and probably least are blooms shown here of a Orange Jewellweed wildflower on Old Shorty Trail at Bona Dea. I just couldn't leave ole Bona Dea out of this post.

Bona Dea Update-04-29-12

Today was a nice day to be out and about. I have seen this tree in the park off of Old Shorty Trail for a long time but never knew what it was until this year's bloom. I really think the tulip like blooms are beautiful and I have never looked at them up close before. These blooms were off the groud quite a ways and I had to throw a rope up and over a limb and pull it down in order to bread off a short twig with leaves and flowers. This is a Yellow-poplar-or Tuliptree-Magnoliaceae Liriodendron tulipifera L. This tree is not native of this area however. In this section of the park which is the parking area and picnic area, the acreage was planted with different wildflowers and trees by the government when the park was developed. These are photos of its bark,look at the woodpecker holes and leaf closup and profile of the whole tree and then 2 photos showing a darker and a lighter exposure of the bloom. Which exposure do you think is best?? Leave answer in comment section. Thanks!! Also at the local Western Sizzlin Restaurant there is this really nice Red Mulberry Tree-Morus rubra. You can eat these berries and they are sorta like wild blackberries. Photos showing the whole tree and limbs and leaves and the berries beside a nickel.