While the changes between spring and summer may not be as dramatic as other seasonal shifts they certainly seem to have snuck up on me this year. Young ones are arriving and changes in attitudes and behaviours are taking place all around the Fish Pond.

The striking colors of the Wood Duck drakes have begun to fade and will soon be gone completely. Even the Bright green head feathers of the local Mallards don’t seem as vibrant as they did only a week or so ago.

Since both male and female Kingfisher seem comfortable venturing out over the pond at the same time I am guessing that they now have young. They make almost continuous trips to hunt for enough food to feed their growing little ones.

They are still one of my favorites to watch as they fly from tree to tree stopping to hover occasionally when they spot a small fish or as they splash into the water for a quick bath to clean up and refresh themselves.

My original guess that the eagles who fish here at the pond might not have successfully hatched any young this year was wrong. They did manage to raise one little one and it has finally found its way to the pond. It arrived as I was setting up and the only shots I managed to get of it were a few blurry ones as it made a hasty departure to avoid the crows that were harassing it. These persistant pests did not bother it for long though.

I have never seen both of the mature eagles at the pond together before so you can imagine how excited I was when they both suddenly appeared. They came in quickly from my left chasing the noisy crows back into trees. I was really amazed when they both landed on the same perch directly up and across from my photo blind.

They spent about ten minutes there before taking off in the direction of the younger eagle that I could see circling over the trees in the distance. The best part of this group encounter is that I can now say with out doubt that they are both sporting similar leg bands. All I have to do now is get the alphanumeric codes off of them. Easy right?

After being fortunate enough to have these brief few moments with the eagles I was surprised again to have a close encounter with what is probably the smallest bird that occasionally visits the pond.

This hummingbird spent several minutes among the shadows of the tree that makes up part of my photo blind. It was so close I had a hard time focussing on it.

Needless to say it was a wonderful and very interesting couple of hours at the Fish Pond.

Fortunately a couple of hours is all it takes to find a weeks worth of wonder in the big world around you!

Get out there and be amazed!

Have a great one!

Kevin

Lazy, hazy spring days at the Fish Pond. That’s certainly what it seemed like today as there was not much happening. Kingfishers passing back and forth, a few ducks and a seagull that stopped in for a quick bite were about all that I saw.

One Mallard Drake showed up shortly after my arrival. He was heading straight at me as he skidded to a stop on the water’s surface. As soon as he slowed to the point that his feet could paddle successfully he turned sharply to his right and swam away from his splashdown point.

He nervously swam up and down the length of the pond paralleling the bank that was off to my right looking for any sign of other ducks but he stayed well away from it. Occasionally he would perk his head up as if he thought he had seen something in the over hanging trees. He would swim quickly towards whatever it was only to return to his regular route when it turned out to be nothing.

Quacking anxiously he maintained his back and forth pattern for more than twenty minutes. He didn’t seem to relax until a pair of wood ducks appeared from out of the brush. As soon as they showed up he climbed up onto a fallen tree settled in for a short rest.

One of the reasons for the lack of activity today was probably the layer of white fluff that had fallen from the Cottonwood trees. Until the wind picked up and pushed it all to one side it blanketed almost the entire surface of the pond.

It certainly drove the Wood Ducks crazy when they tried to feed in it and made at least one Grackle very unhappy. He must have thought it was snow and seemed very surprised when he went right through it and got a little wet. If I didn’t know better I’d say he was rather embarrassed about the whole thing.

That was about the all that happened. Except for the large number of mosquitoes that kept my hands pretty busy it was fairly uneventful.

I did make one new discovery. The picture below is what I found. I’m curious to know if anyone can guess what it is, or more precisely, whose it is, hmmm…


With the great weather there is no longer any excuse not to get outside and go exploring! So get going!

Until next time have a great one.

Kevin