Yesterday, On the Pond

Yesterday, we took advantage of the break in the heat and headed out on the pond for a little recreational paddling. It was beautiful and once we were out on the pond, away from the shore line, we weren't bothered by any biting flies or mosquitoes -- luxurious!


This female yellow-bellied slider, Chrysemys scripta, was quite tolerant of our approach. Normally the turtles are very shy and dive into the water long before we get close enough for a photo.

The size of the turtle, the relatively short length of the claws on the front feet, and the short tail shown in the photo below all indicate this turtle was female.

She was tolerant of our presence, but even she had her limits. At least she was kind enough to go off the opposite side of the log so I could get a shot of her yellow-striped britches!

Other turtle species observed yesterday: Eastern Musk, Eastern Mud, Eastern Painted, and assorted "Cooters."

As I have mentioned in previous posts, the millpond is dotted with the stumps of bald cypress trees that were logged years ago. Cypress stumps take a long time to decay so they provide wonderful little islands that are colonized by a variety of plants. It isn't unusual to find a dozen or more species of plants growing on any given stump.

This Eastern tiger swallowtail, Papilio glaucus, was nectaring on a button bush (Cephalanthis occidentalis) that is growing on such a stump out in the middle of the upper end of the pond.

Other butterflies seen yesterday: Spicebush swallowtail, Red-spotted purple, Red Admiral, Eastern tailed blue, and Pearl crescent.

Dragonfly sex is a complicated affair. If you have never studied up on it, I recommend that you do a little reading on the subject. I'm not even going to try to address the whole process here.

These Prince Baskettails (Epitheca princeps) were perched in a bush, trying to be discreet, but I intruded into their "private" time anyway. :)



This particular configuration is the wheel position. The male grasps the female by the head with his abdominal appendages while she sort of docks her reproductive organ with his "accessory genitalia" and sperm is transferred. Different species stay in this configuration for varying lengths of time -- some species even fly while in this position. The mere thought gives me a headache ;)

Our dragonfly list from yesterday: Great blue skimmer, Slaty skimmer, Eastern pond hawk, Blue dasher (a gazillion of these!), Harlequin darner, Swamp darner, Eastern amberwing, Halloween pennant, Carolina saddlebags, and Black saddlebags. We also saw a variety of damselflies, but didn't take the time to ID them.

The little red plant in the middle of this pond glop is called mosquito fern, Azolla caroliniana. It is a true fern and the only aquatic one we have.

The other plants with the little leaves are various species of duckweed -- I'll have to devote a whole post to those one of these days. The barely submerged, darker green gunk is some type of algae.



Our hot, dry June has left us with more algae than we like to see this time of year. As it dies and begins to decay, the algae will take up a good bit of the dissolved oxygen in the water. What we need is a nice soaking rain that will cause the pond to rise and move some of the floating mats of algae out and areate the pond at the same time.

The green frogs, Rana clamitans, were quite talkative yesterday. They usually aren't too keen on being caught out in the open and tend to dive into the water with a warning squawk.


This male was quite cooperative, however. He sat still while my husband manuvered the canoe in as I leaned out over the bow. Had a log not been in the way I may have gotten close enough to this particular frog to have used my macro setting...as it was I had to settle for a "regular" shot.

Green frogs are highly variable. This one was sporting a festive green upper lip.

(The large tympanum, or ear, behind the eye of this frog tells us it is a male. We also saw it calling.)

As usual, there was no shortage of green treefrogs, Hyla cinerea, on the pond yesterday.

They ranged in size from this itty bitty, newly transformed one (about two thirds of an inch, or 1.5 cm)...


To this adult (about 2.5 inches, or 6.4 cm).



Other frogs we saw or heard: Bullfrogs, Carpenter frogs, Gray treefrogs, Squirrel treefrogs, Cricket frogs, and Southern leopard frogs.

GBH doing the Funky Chicken...well, not really.

This juvenile great blue was sunning the underside of its wings. In order to keep from overheating while it soaked up the rays, this bird was doing a little gular fluttering (sort of vibrating its neck pouch) with its beak open. The whole process looked a little strange, but it helps to keep the bird healthy.

We had to laugh at this particular bird -- its voice hadn't changed yet so it had a sort of high pitched squawk.

Great blue herons never let me get close enough to take a picture without using my digital zoom. As a result, all of my heron pictures are grainy. Despite their nervous ways, they remain one of my all-time favorite birds.


It never ceases to amaze me when I watch these great, gangly birds maneuver through the trees and land on those long skinny legs. How can something be so elegant and yet so awkward at the same time?

For those of you interested in such things, here's our pond bird list from yesterday:
Green Heron, Great Egret
Osprey, Red-shouldered hawk, Barred owl
Fish crow, Turkey vulture, Black vulture, Blue jay
Wood duck, Belted kingfisher
Yellow-billed cuckoo, Common grackle, Red-winged blackbird
Prothonotary warbler, Yellow-throated warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Pine warbler, Parula, Hooded warbler
Mockingbird, Catbird
Carolina wren
Blue-gray gnatcatcher
Red-eyed vireo, Yellow-throated vireo
Eastern wood peewee, Acadian flycatcher, Great crested flycatcher, Eastern kingbird
Summer tanager
Chimney swift, Purple martin
Carolina chickadee, Tufted titmouse, White-breasted nuthatch
Ruby-throated hummingbird
Pileated woodpecker, Red-bellied woodpecker, Red-headed woodpecker, Downy woodpecker, Hairy woodpecker, Flicker
Cedar Waxwing
Orchard oriole
Chipping sparrow, Gold finch, Cardinal, Rufus-sided towhee
Wood thrush, Robin, Eastern bluebird
Mourning dove

Shed exoskeleton of a fishing spider, Dolomedes triton

A Few Flowers in Bloom

Button bush flower (Cephalathanus occidentalis)

Polygala mariana -- I don't know a common name for this one, sorry.

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Note: An anonymous commentor suggested the common name for this is Maryland Milkwort. Thanks, Anonymous!

Swamp rose (Rosa palustris)

Beauty-berry flowers (Callicarpa americana)

Eastern box turtle

Dung beetle on the prowl

Woolly mullein in bloom

Ground beetle munching on a grub

Green treefrog

black horsefly