Pond Diary -- June 2009 (and June 2010 at the bottom)

June 4: The Pond is bursting with life -- green frogs, gray tree frogs, bull frogs, leopard frogs, peepers (Bob Dressel is helping with frog identification); two distinct kinds of tadpoles (about 100,000 little black ones and a couple thousand larger brown ones that are faster and quicker to hide from movement. Dragon flys have appeared and water bugs, crawdads, water striders and many snails. The swallows and sparrows are feeding their young in the bird houses and there are also nests of redwinged black birds, robins and a mallard sitting on eggs on one of the small islands.

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The pond patio turned out beautifully and is a wonderful place from which to view the pond and listen to the sounds.

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Planted some hostas along the edge of Xavier Island and the Iris pond is filling out with the little waterways black with tadpoles.

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Views looking up and down the Lisha Kill Creek.

Tony Scalise came by last evening and helped me through 1st grade on identificaltion of some of the flora and fauna.

TREES/SCRUBS -- in this small space there are Black Ash (many killed by the first beaver pond), Shagbark Hickory, Apple, Red Maple, Red Oak, Birch, Elm, Hawthorne, Honey Suckle and Dogwood (leaf has stringy filament).

PLANTS -- include Crowfoot, Arrowhead, Broadleaf Cattail, Plantain, Forget Me Not, Touch Me Not, Fleabane (tiny sunflower with purple edge), Nettle, Spotted Knap Weed, and Dodder Weed (parasitic plant). Also Milfoil, Pondweed and Purple Loose Strife. I spent most of today (June 4th) "mucking" Milfoil and Pondweed out of the pond.

June 8: Black clusters of tadpoles (mainly in the Iris pond, which is connected to the main pond) are gathered along the edges as some of them make landfall as frogs (some with tails and some without, but all haveing four little legs). American Toads have joined the evening chorus with their long trilling songs. A few firefiles are out at night and a few dragon flies and "blue needle flies" ??? are appearing during the day. Below see the tadpoles turning into frogs and on the little island is a mallard on her eggs -- not easy to see her.
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June 11: A look at the garden -- carpet garden (left); titled garden (middle); squash along turtle ridge (right).
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June 11: Purple Loosestrife. Last year I noticed some deterioration of some of the plants of this hardy and beautiful but very aggressive invasive species. This year the deterioration seems more widespread. Below a perforated plant with one of the little flying insect nibblers and a dried up dead plant.
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June 12: First batch of ducklings! (the mallard on "little island" is still sitting on her eggs) and a wildflower.
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June 15: About four times a year the creek overflows into the pond and today was one of those times. For only 1/2 hour it rained (and hailed), from about 5 to 5:30pm, but it rained very hard and then the sun came out. Immediately the creek started to rise and by 5:15 it was over it's banks and filling the low-land flood plain. By 6:30pm it was up about a foot and by 7:30pm it crested at about 2 feet. This put the water at about 1 inch over the island where the mallard was sitting on her eggs. At 8 o'clock an amazing thing happened -- she came swimming out of the grass on the island followed by four ducklings. She swam to the nearest island (Xavier's cattail island) but that was all underwater. Then she swam to the next island, which had about one inch and one square yard still above water. She settled into the middle of the small patch with all four ducklings nestling under her wings. We'll see what the morning brings. Below is pictured the pond flood, "little duck island" under water, and "escape from little duck island."
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June 16: Mama duck and her four ducklings survived the night and (below) four turtles resting on a board.

Below: June 18, 2010

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Peas, beens, tomatoes, peppers, greens, potatoes and a beautiful Early Jersey cabbage. More greens than we can eat but with Ann's great cooking, we're trying.

Creekside wetlands are coming back after five years of being covered by ten acre, beautiful "Beaver Lake."

Back to Pond Diary -- May 2009
Go to Pond Diary -- July, 2009