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Welcome back! We missed you!
Post your yard and pond visitors
- Thread starter RobAmy
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I’ve missed you all too. Glad to see JW and MrsClem and JB the Explorer. Is Sissy still around? Trying to remember others from “way back when”...
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She pops in and out..............
JBtheExplorer
Native Gardener
Welcome back!
mrsclem
mrsclem
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Welcome back! We all missed you!
j.w
I Love my Goldies
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Missed you bunches and so glad you came back! Sounds like a lot of big changes in your life for sure!
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Thanks, JB!
C
corgi
j.w
I Love my Goldies
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Wow that is a great shot of that beauty of a bird. Now the fish it catches is another story!
C
corgi
We've watched it get a bass about 15 inches long from the deeper part of the pond without hardly disturbing the water with
a snatch and grab. We also watched it leave with what appeared to be a gray squirrel, but the most amazing sequence of pics
with this absolutely huge and stunning bird, was watching it perched over the pond for about a half hour, watching all of the
squirrels, and birds, and then flew down to the opposite side of the pond. It then slowly stalked up to a secondary escape door
for a muskrat den. The opening is about the size of a softball. He slowly approached the hole and then bent down to listen, tilting
his head a little. Then, just as slowly, he stalked over to the edge of the pond where the muskrats would exit the den just below the
water line. He stared into the water waiting. I was rapidly loosing shooting light, and he finally flew off for the evening without success, but you can see a little blood on the shoreline where he was waiting, I'm assuming for a repeat performance as he had probably got one there a day or two before.
The following day when it came back, it flew a few circles over the pond and landed at the far end. It was going after a dead bluegill
about 10 inches or so. After the bluegill, it flew to the opposite side of the pond and made his way out on a log that my wife and
I had rolled into the pond for the turtles to bask on. The turtles like it, so do the wood ducks, and now the eagle added his name to the
list. It was cool to watch him wipe his beak on one side and then the other. Then surveyed his surroundings, and then took a drink. Too cool. Then just when we thought we'ed seen it all. It jumped off the log and onto a mole. It grabbed the mole with some grass and jumped
up in the air a couple of feet and then back down again. My wife an I had our mouths hanging open. Finally flew back to what we can
assume to be a nest with mouths to feed. More pics
Stalking the muskrat secondary exit hole
Listening over the muskrat opening
Stalking the shoreling opening of the muskrat den
It left without getting a muskrat but there is a little
blood on the shoreline where he was standing. His behavior
leads me to believe this was something he had done before.
The next day he came back and gave a chance for some much nicer pics
In this pic, you can see the dead bluegill in the water
After eating the gill, he flew to the other side of the pond to
clean up and get a drink.
Wiping one side
And then the other
Survey the surroundings
Take a drink
Pounce on a mole a few times, and then head back to the nest
In case your wondering about the green stake, I used it to tie off some
Pond King pond structure. I bought a brush, a shrub and tall grass and
threw them in the pond last fall giving the fish some stucture to hide in.
I put 3 grouped fairly close together on each side of the pond. I used nylon
cord tied to them in case I want to move them. I need to get a smaller stake
to tied the nylon cord to, as the present stake is ruining my wildlife shots.
Woodies
Slowskys
Mallard digging nest
a snatch and grab. We also watched it leave with what appeared to be a gray squirrel, but the most amazing sequence of pics
with this absolutely huge and stunning bird, was watching it perched over the pond for about a half hour, watching all of the
squirrels, and birds, and then flew down to the opposite side of the pond. It then slowly stalked up to a secondary escape door
for a muskrat den. The opening is about the size of a softball. He slowly approached the hole and then bent down to listen, tilting
his head a little. Then, just as slowly, he stalked over to the edge of the pond where the muskrats would exit the den just below the
water line. He stared into the water waiting. I was rapidly loosing shooting light, and he finally flew off for the evening without success, but you can see a little blood on the shoreline where he was waiting, I'm assuming for a repeat performance as he had probably got one there a day or two before.
The following day when it came back, it flew a few circles over the pond and landed at the far end. It was going after a dead bluegill
about 10 inches or so. After the bluegill, it flew to the opposite side of the pond and made his way out on a log that my wife and
I had rolled into the pond for the turtles to bask on. The turtles like it, so do the wood ducks, and now the eagle added his name to the
list. It was cool to watch him wipe his beak on one side and then the other. Then surveyed his surroundings, and then took a drink. Too cool. Then just when we thought we'ed seen it all. It jumped off the log and onto a mole. It grabbed the mole with some grass and jumped
up in the air a couple of feet and then back down again. My wife an I had our mouths hanging open. Finally flew back to what we can
assume to be a nest with mouths to feed. More pics
Stalking the muskrat secondary exit hole
Listening over the muskrat opening
Stalking the shoreling opening of the muskrat den
It left without getting a muskrat but there is a little
blood on the shoreline where he was standing. His behavior
leads me to believe this was something he had done before.
The next day he came back and gave a chance for some much nicer pics
In this pic, you can see the dead bluegill in the water
After eating the gill, he flew to the other side of the pond to
clean up and get a drink.
Wiping one side
And then the other
Survey the surroundings
Take a drink
Pounce on a mole a few times, and then head back to the nest
In case your wondering about the green stake, I used it to tie off some
Pond King pond structure. I bought a brush, a shrub and tall grass and
threw them in the pond last fall giving the fish some stucture to hide in.
I put 3 grouped fairly close together on each side of the pond. I used nylon
cord tied to them in case I want to move them. I need to get a smaller stake
to tied the nylon cord to, as the present stake is ruining my wildlife shots.
Woodies
Slowskys
Mallard digging nest
Last edited by a moderator:
C
corgi
They can have all of the bass they can eat, but please leave the bluegill and perch off the menu. I think the one that haunts me more is
the blue heron. I had this one show up Jan 23rd with 3/4s of the pond ice covered. I thought I had a 4 to 5 month reprieve from them during the winter months, but this one never left.
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Fantastic shots! Thanks for sharing
JBtheExplorer
Native Gardener
The good news is that Mallard Ducks are hanging out by my pond for the first time in a year.
The bad news is that House Sparrows keep fighting Tree Sparrows that want to nest in my nest boxes. It's bad this year. I have sparrows trying to take over four houses. I keep pulling their nests out. You can see I put some wood on the front of this house to try to make the hole smaller, but they just keep fighting.
The bad news is that House Sparrows keep fighting Tree Sparrows that want to nest in my nest boxes. It's bad this year. I have sparrows trying to take over four houses. I keep pulling their nests out. You can see I put some wood on the front of this house to try to make the hole smaller, but they just keep fighting.
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The babies showed up on the deck. First time we caught them up there, the two have sibling battles. Then big mama showed up to chase them home. They spent time figuring out how to get up into the flower/right now weed pots.
