It has been a very interesting week at the Fish Pond. There were several new visitors including the first Osprey, first frog and the first snake of the year.
There also appears to be a new kid in town!
I was just about ready to leave for home one evening when this fellow showed up. He flew into one of the perches normally used by the other eagles so I just assumed it was one of them. I grabbed a couple of quick shots before he left then packed up my gear and headed out of the woods.
When I sat down to review my images from the day I noticed right away that this was not a mature bird I had seen before. If you look at its legs it is not banded and it is the first mature eagle I have seen at the pond that has not been.
The resident pair of Belted Kingfishers must have a nest somewhere up the hill near the ponds inlet stream. They were very busy all week and their behaviour certainly indicates that they are feeding young.
One would appear from the stream entrance and fish until it caught something then return back up the stream. Within two minutes the other would make the same entrance and repeat the routine. They stayed busy all week, even while it was raining.
I did find out just how fast a male Kingfisher can change direction in mid-air though. During one of the weeks rainy periods, while there was a fog hovering over the waters surface, he was following one of his normal paths across the pond, one that takes him down the corridor of trees that line the outlet stream.
When he popped out of the fog thirty or so feet from where I was standing he was headed right at me. I'm certain that at that very instant the same thought was going through both of our minds. He hit the breaks, coming to a complete stop in mid air about ten feet in front of me and flapped like crazy to make a hasty exit up and to his left.
I have to admit that in three years of visiting this pond I have never seen a Green Heron here until this week. I have seen them at nearby bodies of water but this is a first for the Fish Pond.
They are one of the funnest birds I have been fortunate enough watch and the one that showed up today was no exception. It was great to watch him as he would slowly stalk one section of the shoreline stabbing at the water to catch the small fish hiding along the shore. I hope to see lots more of him in the coming weeks. They are a very pretty bird.
After not seeing any in more than two weeks I also got a very brief visit from a lone female Wood Duck. She appeared from out of nowhere and with a couple of soft peeps landed almost right in front of the spot I was shooting from. She went straight to the mouth of the inlet stream where she took a quick bath and then made a rather odd trip around the pond.
At first I couldn't figure out what she was doing. She would put her beak down into the water and slowly swim towards one of the bunches of floating vegetation. She looked like she was trying to be a crocodile.
Just before she would reach the edge of a bunch she would go to full speed and charge up onto the vegetation. After she did it two or three times before I figured out what she was up to.
She was hunting the dragon flies that were resting on the plants. She managed to grab and eat two that I saw and then she quickly swam to the far end of the pond, turned into the wind and took off and flew back in the direction from where she came.
The end of the week came rain. Friday it was soft and warm and it seemed to change the landscape around the pond every few minutes. When it would start to sprinkle the warm falling drops would create a fog on the waters surface when they mixed with the cold pond water.
After the rain, as the mist would clear, you could hear water drops falling all around the pond's banks as the trees shed the left over rain. It would then become quiet, clear and still with only the sound of the flowing streams murmuring in the background.
As you can see its been an interesting week. I hope it stays this way.
Have a great one! Get outside and explore someplace new today!
Kevin
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