Hummingbird's on Lake Bistineau

The afternoon feeding of hummingbirds at my brother's place on Lake Bistineau.  I estimate around a hundred birds in his yard and he claims it's been a low turnout this year.

Lake Bistineau - Plum Orchard Island

Lubber Grasshopper

OO

Even with yo-yo fishing, State Farm is there.  A yo-yo is a mechanical fisher.  It's a small spring loaded device that you tie on to a limb, dock, jug or even the side of a boat. that has an automated reel. You tie it off to your chosen item and then pull the line out and bait it. The mechanical device sets and the line stays out in the water. When a fish hits the bait, the yo yo pulls the line back in rapidly and hooks the fish.  Typically one makes and evening of yo-yo fishing setting 15-30 yo-yo's then making a round every hour or so to check for fish (or the occasional alligator or turtle).  

Single hummer

Snapping turtle shell

The plastron or lower shell of a musk turtle...I think.

The upper shell or the carapace of a musk turtle.

Old Schlitz beer can.

Lake Bistineau has another aquatic vegetation problem.  It's currently being choked out by salvinia, a free floating aquatic fern.  First discovered in the lake in 2006 and various methods have been used to eradicate it including a salvinia weevil.  The Corp of Engineers has dropped the lake twice and are currently in process of using an herbicide (with a poor record of effectiveness).  The biomass of the salvia can double in size every 3-5 days.

Red Buckeye

Aluminum step ladder

Bald Cypress 

Bald Cypress stand

Bald Cypress

This party barge has seen better days

Bald Cypress

Crayfish, crawfish, mudbug or freshwater lobster cheliped (claw)

Gossen Luna Pro Light meter

West Memphis, Arkansas

Today we stopped over in West Memphis, Arkansas at a nice park, Tom Sawyer Mississippi River RV Park, right on the Mississippi River.  Tomorrow we head out to Doyline, Louisiana to visit family.