Max Goes Fishing

As long term readers of this blog are aware, we have cats. And one of our cats, Max, likes to go outside. Pumpkin, our other cat, prefers to remain indoors.

And as cats are non-native predators, we keep Max on a leash whenever we let him enjoy the outside world (and yes we do walk him around the yard). But that doesn't mean he can't get the full sensory experience of our yard.

Max is fascinated by water, any water, other than that in his drinking bowl. Nor the fancy drinking fountain Patty got for him and Pumpkin (since returned). 

And like all cats, he is attracted to movement. So the fish in the pond are a source of continuing fascination. 

And a bit confusing as well. All those things moving around!

He spent quite some time watching. He then drank some of the pond water (yuck!), jumped up onto the deck, and found a sunny spot to relax. Hard work that fish watching.

No Cats nor Fish were harmed in the making of this blog post.

Meanwhile in the Fish Pond

The fish have survived the winter. 

Well most of it, there are few more days to go.

We fired up the pond this weekend, and I counted over eighty fish swimming about.

Spring is coming. And there's nothing we can do to stop it. 

That's a good thing.

Sea Food ...

... or is it pond food?

I was sitting on the deck Sunday afternoon, chilling as it had been a long day, when I heard this thumping sound. "What the ...", I thought.

Looking around I finally saw ...

A Northern Water Snake helping to keep the population of our fish pond in check.

Open wide!

It amazes me everything I see it happen (and people tell me I have a big mouth).

I moved in for a closer look, but the snake was having none of that and slithered off into the reeds.

The Fish

We have a fish pond at our place, installed by the prior owner.

As noted in this very blog, the Northern Water Snakes have been known to frequent the pond and snack on the fish.

But despite the best efforts of the snakes, and the occasional visit by a Great Blue Heron, the fish, as can bee seen above, are holding their own.

And the other day when I was cleaning the filters I inadvertently caught this:

And I'm not sure what species it is.

My internet searches led me to this page at the USGS on Carassius auratus, with an image of a wild type Goldfish. And it looks rather similar to my fish.

So is this just a young goldfish? Maybe, but all of the young fish we've seen in the pond have been black, not golden, turning bright orange (or yellow, or mottled) as they age. Black being evolutionarily advantageous as it makes the young fish difficult to see in the deep water (bigafy the first image above and see if you can find the several black fish in it).

And then I found this page, which, when you scroll down, shows a goldfish and points out that the dorsal fin is detached from the body. You'll notice that this is not the case with my fish.

However, if you look at the Wikipedia page for Goldfish and the image for Common Goldfish, you'll see it has an attached dorsal fin.

So, I know that is a freshwater fish. Living in our fish pond. And that's about it.

If you know what species it is, leave a comment and let me know.

It Is Happening Again

Remember this post, More Death in the Pines, from back in 2014? It looked a lot like this.

One of the resident Northern Water Snakes has discovered the fish pond. And more specifically, the fish in said pond.

Patty and I were sitting on the deck enjoying a fine evening when I noticed a reed rustle. What's going on here I wondered.

Feeding time for the snake I discovered.

We both wondered how was going to swallow this fish. We'll never know as the snake, not liking that we had noticed it, slithered backwards, dragging its prey into the reeds and out of sight. Patty opined that we'd find a dead fish floating about in the morning. I think it will swallow it.

I guess we'll find out in the morning. Update: no sign of a dead fish.

Fishin'

During our recent trip to Tinicum, we saw an Osprey that as you can see was not successful in landing its catch.

But at Manahawkin we saw a successful Osprey.

Notice the difference?

The Manahawkin bird has a much smaller fish!

Better to have something than nothing.

Whitesbog Bioblitz - Pond Life

After we finished eating I joined Steve Luell of the Pinelands Institute for Natural and Environmental Studies to see what we could find in one of the ponds (Patty went on a bird walk).

Steve provided nets on long poles which we used to scoop up stuff. We  did our scooping amongst the vegetation along the edge of the pond, as that provides cover for the little things we were looking for. We emptied our nets into shallow pans we had filled with water. And looked to see what we had found.

We found lost of little things.

Like tiny tadpoles.

And larger, but still small, tadpoles. This one is likely a Bullfrog based on size.

Insects, such as this water bug.

And this Giant Water Beetle aka "Toe Biter". Watch out fish! (Even though fish don't have toes, this beetle will kill and eat fish of this size.)

There were several Damselfly Larva ...

... and Dragonfly Larva. Both are voracious predators as well.

And about those fish, there were three that we captured.

All Sunfish, too small to identify to species.

It was cool to see all this usually unseen stuff.

Tinicum

Or more specifically, the John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge at Tinicum.

We had planned to visit Mother's Day morning, meeting our friends Rachel and Adam (last see in this post). Alas, it was a very rainy day so we rescheduled for this past Wednesday evening.

You can see Adam's excellent images of the event here, A Good Walk Spoiled (go look!). I think the title refers to his new found interest in bird photography. Because while Patty and Rachel made it all the way around the main trail, Adam and I, stopping to photograph every bird we saw, didn't make it a quarter of the way.

Adam also has a photography exhibit at the Headhouse Cafe in Philadelphia. Go, enjoy some delicious sushi, and buy a print!

Patty, who subscribes to every bird alert service in the area, arrived first and texted me that a Sora was being seen at the boardwalk. Thus when I arrived she sent me off to find it while she waited for Adam and Rachel.

So off I went. It took awhile, but eventually I spotted it.

See it there in the reeds? Yep, that's how one usually sees them. They are a bit secretive. But sometimes ...

... they come out into the open ...

... and even come close.

While on the boardwalk I also saw some Barn Swallows.

And Painted Turtles, which pretty much all over the place.

And a pair of Mute Swans.

But the bird that stole the show was ...

... this fishing Osprey.

Hovering and flying seemingly for our enjoyment.

Continuing on we saw a number of good birds, including this Baltimore Oriole, upon which spotting Adam cried out, "Look at that colorful one!".

There were multiple Yellow Warblers along the trail.

And a lone Cedar Waxwing. Odd, as they are usually found in groups.

Further out we spotted a Great Egret.

And a female Wood Duck.

Multiple people told us that there were Wood Duck chicks, very small perhaps only days old. But the only chicks we saw were these muddy Mallards.

It was a very nice way to spend an evening. Although it did rain briefly on our way back to our cars.

The One That Got Away

I mentioned the Osprey that put on a show for us in the "Tinicum" post.

It took awhile, and a lot of images ...

... but it finally dove for the catch ...

... which I missed. But I did get the subsequent take off.

It seemed to be doing ok.

But it wasn't gaining altitude.

In fact, it seemed to be losing it.

And then, it lost the fish.

Maybe better luck next time.