Pond Visitors

Yesterday afternoon when the sun was blazing, I stopped at our small pond to see if anything new had arrived.  I wasn't disappointed.  At first, I saw this garter snake (Thamnophis sirtalis) sunning itself atop the frogbit.  It wove itself in and out of the pickerel weed, then quickly slid out of the pond, under the fence and into my neighbor's stone wall. 

But then I noticed a snout pushing out from the frogbit.  Another larger garter snake was hidden beneath the surface.

My son and I watch for about 15 minutes as this larger snake emerged from the pond and basked on the rocks.  Perhaps it had just had a meal since it was sluggish, did not seem bothered by our presence, and readjusted its jaws 4 or 5 times as it shifted positions on the edge of the pond.

This green frog who lives in the pond returned from its hiding place in the garden once the snake left.

A wooly bear caterpillar was unfazed by all the activity and kept munching away on frogbit.

Build it and they will come

Since we moved into our new home three years ago, we've been contemplating adding a water feature to our back yard.  But we soon found out that digging through rocks and roots was a challenge we weren't up to.  Other factors like lots of children running through the yard and having to hook up an electrical line to run a filter made us think twice about constructing a pond.

A compromise was in order.  After considering container water gardens, we thought why not do the same thing but with a small pond form?

Lowes had just the thing - a fifty gallon preformed kidney-shaped pond liner.  Add a few plants - some water hyacinth, a hardy lily and some pickerel weed -  and voila a beautiful low maintenance water feature.  But would it attract the wildlife we were hoping for?

At first, we got a load of mosquitos.  A couple of attempts to add small fish to eat the larvae failed.  Then, our luck changed.

In mid-July, my son came home with two green frogs he'd rescued from our neighbor's pool.  Into the pond they went.  Luckily, they decided to stay.  When we returned from a week's vacation, our two-frog pond had become a five frog pond.  Goodbye mosquitos. 

These little frogs have staked out territories.  There's the lily pad frog, the pickerel frog, and the rock frog.

We were quite overzealous with our plant purchase, so we decided to add a whisky barrel water garden alongside the pond.

This container houses water lettuce and a fun and funky dwarf papyrus.  It's addictive!

Another day at the pond

Going to the pond never gets old. Last week my nieces came to visit, providing the perfect excuse to head over for the umpteenth time this summer.

The fountain which had been off all summer, had now been turned on, spraying a showery rainbow across the surface of the pond.


How would this affect the creatures living in the pond? More critters seemed to shy away from the spray, prefering to keep close to the pond's edge. The whirligig beetles were spinning crazily just a couple of feet from shore and we noticed more frogs and salamanders crowded in the leaf litter and the duckweed.

There was also an abundance of interesting fungi growing on the mossy banks.




While I was busy taking photos, my son, daughter and two nieces were busy scooping muck from the rim of the pond, discovering spotted salamanders and frogs at all stages of development.

My 9-year-old niece managed to net a good-sized green frog with a bright yellow belly.

Here is one of many spotted salamanders they found, some still sporting gills.

This little frog had quite a bit of tail still left.

Below is a giant water bug nymph that was lurking on the pond bottom waiting for a tadpole lunch (or maybe a kid's finger). The best find, by far, was a den of Northern water snakes (Nerodia sipedon). I surprised an adult female basking on a sunny patch of moss and she quickly slid into the water. As I called the kids to watch her swimming just below the duckweed, they noticed little heads poking out and thin black bodies winding through the greenery. Babies!

Each child got a chance to catch a tiny snake. Northern water snakes bear live young from August through October, so these little ones were brand new. Everyone enjoyed showing off the snakes.

The babies looked so dark in our palms, but their reddish markings were clearer in the bright sunlight. We returned them to do their job keeping the pond population of leeches, tadpoles, and salamander larvae in check.

Another glorious day and a great way to end the summer. School starts tomorrow...

What's at the Pond?

My kids love the cemetery. Weird, right? It's actually a beautiful green place with two ponds loaded with life. We're there sometimes two days a week checking for exciting new developments both in the water and on land. It's a great place to bird watch. Our bird list includes Baltimore orioles, red-tailed and sharp-shinned hawks, mergansers, mallards, geese and king birds.

For the past two months, the ponds at West Parish Cemetery have been coming to life. When we stopped by in March hoping to glimpse egg masses, we were disappointed. Thick slabs of ice still floated on the surface, hiding any signs of life underneath. April and May, however, brought an explosion of pond creatures.

The green frogs, in particular, have been busy. This is green frog spawn, found in large sheets in the shallow water near the edges of the pond. Each tiny black dot hatches within 3-4 days, releasing a tadpole into a watery world. The egg mass can contain 1,000+ eggs.

My children and I took a few eggs home and watched the comma-shaped embryos grow and wriggle within the round globs of jelly. This picture was taken within the first days after the tadpoles emerged.



Here you can see the frilly gills on either side of their heads.


This two week old tadpole is using its raspy mouth to scrape bits of algae from the edge of the container. The tadpoles may metamorphose this season or overwinter in the pond and become adults next year. Here's one well on its way with back legs already developing. These larger tadpoles look very funny "standing" in the shallows on their fully developed hind legs.

Green frogs (Rana clamitans melanota) are common in the Northeast. The cemetery pond is a perfect breeding ground - a still, constant water source. The frogs breed from March through August, with the males arriving first to claim the best spots and entice females with their calls. Hear the male green frog's "come hither" call by clicking on this link: http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/topics/frogCalls.html

Male green frogs can be identified by a large ear drum or tympanum which is bigger than their eye. Adult males also have a pale yellow throat. This guy has found himself a nice raft.

These green frogs feast on a multitude of insects and often bask on the side of the pond. Some actually refuse to move from their warm spots and don't seem to mind being gently stroked on the back.