Pond tails

We had a busy day yesterday. It made it up to 28 C. and a great day for working outdoors, especially with water. I made the mistake of doing the back lawn, and the clippings ended up in the fountain. I had to take it apart and clean it out. How dumb was that?! It took me three tries, and I requested and received JB's help. It is tricky. 

I put the goldfish outdoors. Is is truly SPRING, YAM! Percy was tricky, as he doesn't fit into the small aquarium net. I used the butterfly net! Showed him! He is about 28 cm (11") from nose to fin tip.

I've still clean up to do indoors, including cleaning out the aquarium pump and tubing. We anticipate 31 C. today. I had to put sunscreen on. 

goldfish from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

The frogpond teems with life. It is growing in, but there is lots going on in the water. We're pretty dry this month, I hope all survive. 

Frogpond in May from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

🐦Wood ducks

The ducks have eggs! She bolted from the nest so I peeked. I won't look again. She'll lay an egg a day up to about a dozen (6 – 15). It'll take a month for them to hatch.

duck eggs from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

The duck is in nest box #3. These are archived photos. The female comes and goes. The male is from a trip to Vancouver in 2014. I can never get that close to our male in the pond. 

Butch

If you listen to it, I think it is Butch raccoon tromping around in the dead leaves. The ducks are on the far right. As I walked down yesterday, I spotted the male wood duck sitting on the fallen tree branch.

 

ducks from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Frog pond

Tadpoles! Too many to count. I pointed them out, just for fun. I found a page on tadpole ID!

 

The wee tadpoles, I think they are the wood frog tadpoles, are both predator and prey.

new tadpoles from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

They have to be on the watch for snakes, turtles, and dragonfly nymphs. If you watch the video, you can see mosquito larvae, and all sorts of bugs flicking around.

dragonfly nymph from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.