Down by the Pond

Yesterday began dark and wet with buckets of rain pouring from the sky -- of course, that was to be expected as it was my day off ;) Mother Nature noted my distress and finally took pity on me around noon. The skies cleared from solid gray to intense blue sprinkled liberally with puffy white clouds. Yipee! The day was not going to be a total wash-out after all.

First on our ever-growing list of chores was returning our friend's tractor to him. The trip is only about 7 miles but it takes about 45 minutes to accomplish. You can see a lot of things when you are cruising along at 12 miles an hour. For instance, Treebeard, from his perch atop the tractor, saw a long-nosed gar on the shoulder of the road. For those of you who may not be familiar, a long-nosed gar is a fish and this one was a whopper. We weren't near any bodies of water at the time so one has to wonder just how this fish ended up on the side of the road. One of those mysteries that will never be solved...

Once we got the tractor safely back we decided to stop by the millpond before returning home to deal with the 21 tons of pea gravel we recently purchased. We poked around the shore line for a bit and checked out the rocks along the spillway. Nestled among the rocks was a very pretty Eastern Kingsnake (Lampropeltis getula getula). He had a somewhat unusual pattern so I took numerous pictures.

The Blue Flag (Iris virginica) was blooming along the edge of the pond. The many frogs hanging out amongst 'em declined to be photographed. There were cricket frogs, green treefrogs, green frogs and southern leopard frogs...but you'll just have to take my word for it.

Ah, green...my favorite color!

Batteries recharged, Treebeard and I returned home to shovel gravel and work in the yard.
Life is good.

Fish Ladder

The ladder at the millpond is open for piscatorial traffic. So what fish might find such a ladder useful? Shad and river herring are some that come to mind. Both are anadromous, for the non-fishy folk out there (like me) that means that they begin life in fresh water then head for the ocean where they mature. Of course they must return to freshwater to spawn. The American eel is another species that might use the ladder. Eels are catadromous -- they begin life in the Sargasso Sea and then find their way inland to freshwater where they mature. Then it's back to the Sargasso to spawn.

Such complicated life-styles!

 

An Enchanted Forest

Mistletoe grows on the tupelo gums (Nyssa aquatica) and causes them to grow into some pretty unusual shapes. In the transition area between the pond and the swamp and then on into the swamp there are quite a few twisted tupelos. The area is known as the enchanted forest and you find yourself looking for faces in the contorted limbs and trunks.

 

Dinner Table

It is a wonderful thing when young people seek out opportunities to learn about their homes. Yesterday we paddled the pond and swamp with two local teenagers who wanted to know more about the natural and cultural history of the pond and swamp. It was a very enjoyable day. They were interested in the things we showed them and very patient with our stories that always began, "One time, when we were paddling up through here..." And after nearly 31 years of paddling the pond, we have lots of stories!

I didn't have a chance to take a lot of pictures thanks to the fairly stiff breeze that blew all day. There are a few images that I'd like to share, though. We'll start with these three.

Out on the pond you run across some pretty unusual tree shapes from time to time. Yesterday we noticed a bald cypress with an interesting lump growing off one side. Some critter, most likely a raccoon, had used it as a dinner table / rest area. The turtle shell is from a little turtle called a stinkpot.

Racer

More pictures from Friday...
This long, thin fellow was out enjoying the mild temps, too. Treebeard and I pulled over to the shoreline to stretch our legs, check on some long leaf pines that were planted in the early nineties and scope out the eagles' nest nearby. We had only been out of the canoe for a second when Treebeard saw this northern black racer, Coluber constrictor constrictor.
He was pretty calm for a racer so after I snapped a few pictures I leaned down to put the camera on the ground next to him for an eye to eye perspective.
Apparently he was not impressed.
Before I could press the button to take the picture, the snake wheeled around and shot off toward our canoe and disappeared from view.
Such an aptly named snake -- even in February.

Friday, On The Pond

Friday dawned clear, bright and breezy. The weatherman informed us that the day would be mild, the last such day for while. Since I had the day off, Treebeard and I decided it would be a good day to head to the Millpond and do a little paddling.
We were right :)

Loads of turtles were out basking. Most were very skittish so I had to zoom in to get a shot.

Red maples grow on old cypress and tupelo stumps out in the pond. The flowers create a nice contrast with the gray of the Spanish moss.

This beaver lodge has been in more or less constant use for at least the past 30 years.
Every once in a while it will be empty for a year or two, but then some enterprising couple will move in and fix it up again. It, like all the other lodges on the pond, is a great place to find basking snakes in the warmer months.

********

Species list from Friday:

Insects: Honeybee, Apis mellifera; and others that we didn't take the time to ID

Amphibians: Spring peeper, Pseudacris crucifer crucifer; Brimely's chorus frog, Pseudacris brimleyi; Southern leopard frog, Rana sphenocephala utricularia

Reptiles: American alligator, Alligator mississippiensis; Northern black racer, Coluber constrictor constrictor; Yellow-bellied slider, Trachemys scripta scripta; Eastern painted turtle, Chrysemys picta picta; assorted Cooters, Pseudemys sp.

Mammals: Eastern gray squirrel, Sciurus carolinensis; Nutria, Myocastor coypus

Birds: (Order in which they were first observed)
Tree swallow
Canada goose
fish crow
red-shouldered hawk
red-tailed hawk
eastern phoebe
Carolina wren
winter wren
yellow-rumped warbler
wood duck
American black duck
American wigeon
turkey vulture (143 at once!!)
black vulture
mallard
bald eagle
ring-necked duck
pintail
killdeer
ring-billed gull
goldfinch
purple finch
green-winged teal
ruby-crowned kinglet
downy woodpecker
red-bellied woodpecker
white-breasted nuthatch
eastern bluebird
hooded merganser
hairy woodpecker
great blue heron
pileated woodpecker
American robin
Carolina chickadee
common grackle
barred owl
sharp-shinned hawk
northern flicker
golden-crowned kinglet
pied-billed grebe
belted kingfisher
redwing blackbird
pine warbler

Millpond Ramble

Baldcypress, mirrored in the dark water.

A little accidental chickweed garden, 20 feet up. Just exactly how did chickweed find its way
into the fork of a beech tree? Inquiring minds want to know...

A favorite spot out on the pond. The scrappy little tupelo gum in the front is sporting some mistletoe.

Red cedar bonsai - this tree's been the same size for the last 30 years. I've always considered it the millpond Christmas tree.

Red-backed salamanders were under nearly every log we rolled today. Tough little amphibians. This one is a youngster still.

Three very different trees stand together by the water's edge -- a beech, a swamp black gum, and a baldcypress. See the red shirt that Treebeard's wearing? I gave it to him in 1978 :)

Last, but definitely not least, another favorite tree. There is something about the base of this tree that always draws my eye.

We thoroughly enjoyed our walk this afternoon. The temperatures climbed into the mid-60s and the wind was gentle. I have been gone all week and haven't had a chance yet to catch up on comments, but I will. I also need to check Google Reader and see how many posts I need to read...

A Day of Grays

Gray skies over gray trees draped in gray Spanish moss.
Even the water looked gray today.

Old Millpond

 

Across the road and just through the woods, there is an old millpond. Yesterday's warmer temperatures and rainfall melted the ice that had covered the surface following Friday and Saturday's very cold temps. Today there were mallards, black ducks, and wood ducks swimming there. In the warmer months it's a good place to find a variety of snakes and turtles, including spotted turtles. It's always a good place to find an assortment of predators -- or at least evidence of them...

 

This owl pellet was along the shore line of the old pond. Rodent teeth, long bones, and bird beaks give evidence of some of the small animals that live around the pond. Nearby there were a couple of bobcat scats containing hair and a few larger bones, most likely rabbit.

 

I like knowing that across the road and just through the woods there is an old millpond...

This Morning's Walk

click on the collage to get a closer look at individual pictures

It was 7 degrees F this morning when we woke up. A couple hours later it had warmed to near 20 so we decided to walk down to the pond to see what was stirring.

The critters in the collage are a nutria (grrr), a hermit thrush, and one crazy great blue heron. The heron was in full sun, way across the pond, standing on one long leg. Made me cold just to look at him!

As for the bird dropping...I had to add it in because it had frozen bubbles in it. You just can't pass up frozen bubbles!

The freaky frost is included because we don't often see that around here. Same goes for the other icy pix.

Attitude Adjusted

There was just enough juice in my partially charged battery to take a few pictures on this morning's hike. The birding was a bit slow, only saw 31 species, but there was plenty out there to make the walk worthwhile. Not a single picture of a bird though -- trying to focus on the feathered ones while they are flitting about is a real battery depleter.

The pond is shifting gears, changing from summer greens to autumn's more varied hues.

Leaves of jewelweed shining with morning dew.
This plant is also known as spotted touch-me-not. When the seed pods ripen you can give them a pinch and they will throw their seeds -- sometimes a pretty impressive distance.

A stinkbug nymph. One of the later instars, I think. Not sure which species.

A pigeon horntail, Tremex columba, perched on Treebeard's fingers. Don't worry, even though they are in the same order as wasps, these don't sting.

Whoops, how did a picture of a green treefrog get onto my blog?

Oh my, there's another one!

Now this is just getting ridiculous! This one's not even green.

Ah, but this one is.

Happy to report that my earlier crabbiness has been eliminated.
My attitude is now properly adjusted.
Funny how that will happen when you are surrounded by things that make you smile.