6/05/2022
6/03/2022
6/01/2022
5/12/2022
sora, master of disguise
My new favorite bird! I just discovered the Sora Porzana carolina (a very secretive wetland bird) this Spring. I watch a pair every day, hunting at the edge of the pond. They think the mottled-pattern camouflage feathers makes them hard to spot. But the bright yellow bill gives them away. (see post on 4/24/2022)
5/02/2022
blue-winged teal
4/24/2022
Sora
This very secretive bird, that usually hides among vegetation, today revealed itself at the edge of the pond! I hope this one will find a spot to nest among the dense vegetation of rushes and sedges.
Not often seen in the open, the Sora is a small chubby bird of freshwater shallow areas with plants such as cattails, sedges and rushes. Sora Porzana carolina is brown and gray with a mottled patterned body, 8-10" long. Despite their camouflage feathers, the bright yellow bill gives them away. It is stubby, thick, glowing yellow in a gray face with black mask.
Soras feed by pecking at the water surface for seeds, aquatic insects, or invertebrates. Long toes help them to rake through submerged vegetation for food items, and help them walk on floating mats of plants. They nest among dense plants at the pond edge.
4/15/2022
dabblers and divers
The pond area is bustling with birds arriving! Several species of ducks have stopped for a meal or a day of rest on migration. I marvel at how they tolerate one another in this small spot of respite. Occasionally we hear honking or see disputes, but mostly the creatures get along.
Animals have adapted their method to feed in different ways. For instance, we saw Mallards feeding near Hooded Mergansers. Mallards and Blue-winged Teal are ‘dabblers' – they dip their beak and head into the water to munch on shallow-water plants. Mergansers are ‘divers' – they dive totally under the water to eat plants growing in deep water.
2/26/2022
hare
The pond has been
under a comforter of white snow. The snow layer insulates and protects the
critters tucked in among the rocks, mud, and dormant plants below water and
ice.
On a sunny day, we saw a large rabbit sitting in the snow near the pond. It created a depression in the snow among reeds and wildflower stems, and snuggled down there all day. At dusk, it was gone from that spot. The next day the sunshine was bright on the white snow. The rabbit was in the same spot again, and napped all day. I suspect it was a White-tailed Jackrabbit Lepus townsendii, actually a hare. Jackrabbits are nocturnal hunters and are known to take daylight naps in a shallow hole.
10/25/2021
muskrats chasing ducks
10/20/2021
mallards showing off
10/05/2021
pond lily
How nice to have a pond lily! We anticipated seeing it bloom next season. The little plant was happy in this pond, spreading out its leaves to soak up the sun and give the tuber in the mud oxygen through the underwater stems.
9/26/2021
8/21/2021
blooming water plantain
8/19/2021
strong stem
Ironweed is one of a few host plants for American Painted Lady butterfly. ‘Host plants’ are those that the butterfly lives on, lays eggs on, and their larvae are sustained by.
See also the post on 8-21-2020
8/16/2021
blue lobelia
Blue Lobelia, a native perennial, started blooming several weeks ago in the wetland around the pond. Each spike of flowers opens from the bottom up. This plant Lobelia siphilitica is related to the intense red Cardinal Flower Lobelia siphilitica. In fact, sometimes Blue Lobelia is called Blue Cardinal Flower. It should bloom until frost, now that we received some rain after a dry summer.
8/14/2021
arrowhead blooming
Among the plants along the shore of the pond, Arrowhead Sagittaria latifolia plants hold their leaves pointing skyward above the water.
This week, we noticed they are blooming with white, 3-petaled flowers held up above the leaves on strong branched stems.
Each flower is about 1" across.
This variety is specifically Broadleaved Arrowhead; also called 'Duck Potato' since it is a perennial plant that forms food-storing tubers as roots.
8/02/2021
blue vervain
7/19/2021
6/27/2021
gleeful painted turtle
The painted turtles who live in the pond love to sit in the sun, especially on rocks near the water. There, each can enjoy the warmth and (in case of danger) slip into the water to hide if needed. This young little critter, about 4 inches long, looked so gleeful today with its feet extended out to catch as much sunshine as possible.
6/25/2021
scouring rush
Scouring Rush Equisetum hyemale grows in the wetland around the pond. It is also called 'horsetail'.