Backyard Wildlife
Here’s another view of the mantis from a couple of weeks ago:
And here is a picture taken yesterday down at the pond:
I briefly saw the ducks, too; a group of about eight ducks flew off as soon as I approached the pond. The geese hung around until Diane and Ritka arrived, then decided to leave, too.
Cool. I could never get any work done at all living at your house. Well, maybe a few weeks in the spring and fall depending on the freeze.
I would probably try to get a project on freshwater liminology. I just recoverd a new species of leech, one that infests tuna stomachs. (I have found zero literature on leeches in the stomachs of tuna. These critters are the second I have discovered, 9 years ago I found a clearly related leech in some yellowfin tuna. They were supposed to have been written up by now. I plan to name them after my brother. My wife would slug me!)
Could we aply for funding to study fish leeches from your pond? ;)
Studying invertebrates has its advantages; institutional care committees don’t when it comes to them.
I’d just be concerned that it is rather a small pond, but I suppose it does have plenty of avian vectors linking it to other bodies of freshwater. So, sure, why not?