Another Day At The Beaver Pond

Spring has arrived at the beaver pond.  A while ago the snow melt increased the water level to the point the beavers opened an outlet to lower it back down.  They allowed a goodly stream to flow for three days before deciding it was to a point that they desired.  The water level had dropped about 14” in the meantime.  Bucky came out to say hello a couple of times so far.

About the same time I spied a couple of slow-moving common frogs that had obviously just arose from a winter of hibernation.  On one occasion I also spotted a garter snake swimming across the pond apparently in search of a meal hopefully supplied by an unwary frog.  If you didn’t know a snake could swim, let me assure you they are very adept at it.  When I was a teenager I threw one in a pond believing I was destroying it, only, to my consternation, to watch it swim gracefully away.  As the weather gets progressively warmer the bullfrogs are beginning to sing in hopes of finding a mating opportunity.

As I have approached the pond on some of my excursions I have spotted as many as three pairs of ducks apparently daydreaming of beginning families soon.  Upon sighting me they will lower their heads close to the water to lower their silhouettes as they slowly paddle off into some brush patches in the shallow waters.  It also appears there is a possibility of a pair of geese nesting for the season.  I’ve seen a pair several times.  Each time they fly a short distance to where they are out of my sight before re-landing, but the next time I return they are still there.

A small group of five deer hang out in the area too.  I believe it is a doe, her pair of two-year-old fawns, and a pair of yearlings.  Soon they will separate as the pregnant does find a secluded area for the birth of a newer set of twins.

A flock of turkeys is in the area too.  I’ve spotted them several times, but mostly at a distance.  They have extremely good eyesight, and it is difficult to approach anywhere near them.  The whitetail deer is a wary animal, but nowhere near as fearful as a turkey.  With a flock of 16 birds ever-watching it is unlikely anyone will get any closer than they care to let them.  You just don’t sneak up on a flock of turkeys in open terrain.  Any photography comes with the aid of a telephoto lens.

Crows announce my arrival in the area as they raucously caw their displeasure at my interrupting their feeding on left behind stray kernels of corn from last fall’s harvest of cattle fodder.  From time to time I spot a lazy vulture wheeling through the skies smelling its way to cleaning up the results of an animal expiration.  As they drop lower, indicating an increasing odor, others will join the aerial display of flight with hardly a wing movement.  Ungainly on the ground, they are breathtaking in their ability to make use of air currents to remain aloft in graceful flight with hardly any expended energy.