Backyard Wildlife; 2007/08/15

While Diane is visiting her parents in Florida, I’m taking care of the various critters. After I finished the rounds this evening, I took a walk down to the pond. The day has been overcast, and we got some sprinkled rain earlier. Down where we had sand put in next to the dock, I could see that either several deer or one very active one had been by.

I went slowly out to the end of the dock. Looking around, I finally spotted six ducks at the southwest end. They spotted me, too, and flew off about thirty seconds after I arrived. The water level has dropped to about two and a half feet below the level of the dock. Back in late March, water almost covered the dock’s surface. I spent a couple of minutes there watching the water. I had wondered whether I would be able to spot turtles, or even if our small pond might have them, and I was rewarded with a definite sighting of about an eight-inch long pond slider-like turtle coming up to take a breath about ten feet away.

That’s about all I had time for today. I’m still working up overdue stuff.