Some drones, a pond, wooden model ships, and the bog out back …
First Time This Year – One water lily leaf is visible on the surface. Two from other plants are visible below the surface. Tomorrow, should be 3 plants with visible leaves.
No sign of any live muskrats.
The brown coloring in the water showed up again. Like last spring.
Very wet behind the pond. It leaks, you know. From the muskrats. My my.
Spring is so brassy …
And sometimes, it brings muskrats …
Muskrat signs on the pond bottom – first of the season. The fresh tan dirt on the normally dark bottom, indicates a muskrat has been holing out my bank nearby.
I found the hole – after 10 minutes or so of searching – had to bend up a pole to find it. It was narrower than others I’ve found.
So I grabbed a rusting #110 trap, set it, and placed it over the hole. A stick helps keep it upright. And a stake through the ring chained to the trap keeps everything from being carted away by other animals, or an animal wounded in the trap. I think it’s usually fatal though.
I hope it hasn’t already eaten the water lily bulbs I put in earlier this spring.
Kath and Steve saw the queen yesterday. All’s well. Here’s a slew of pics of the bees, the insides of the hive, some bee people, and a big brown bee dog. First comes the smoker, then opening the top, then the sugar feeder, then pulling the frames, to check status and hopefully, see the queen – which did occur. Then replenishing the sugar water (they are not yet self sufficient). Then closing up. All is well. And … they are as busy as bees!!!!
Also – the cooling vent was opened up.
Just finished watching a green heron eat a couple frogs. What an appetite. Explains why our amphibian pop is down this year. It’s got these really big bright orange feet, big as clowns feet, that enable it to spread it’s weight out over the reeds.
Also, saw something round and thick laying on the reeds. Brownish/Tannish in color. Smooth. Looked like a coil of a snake. Or a mink, laying on top of the reeds. Never figured out what it was. Looked away for a bit. Looked back to check on it, and it was gone. Maybe the edge of the shell of a huge turtle? Now I’m dreaming up stuff.
[It’s the day after, and I can clearly see that there’s a snake, in that exact same spot, sunning itself. A big Northern Water Snake, I’d guess – seeing it through binocs from the deck. Got to be the same critter – snakes return to favored spots in the sun.]
Here’s some pics, taken this morning. Miles was with me, and is partially visible in one pic. And, there’s always one of the Shots. Wholly visible by the way.
The Pond Today – the water is so clear. Seen parts of the bottom this spring, I’ve never seen before. No plants yet, cept for some phrag shoots and one plant with lots of minute leaves, along western shore. And as noted in last post, couple days ago, I planted 12 water lily bulbs. But what’s bothering me, is that in all that clear pond water, nothing’s moving. No tadpoles. No fish. Not in the open parts I can see, anyway. Some bugs. That’s about it. But I did see a frog, a few days ago. It’s always interesting.
Two geese came to visit today. Along with the frog eating duck I saw the other day. And while capturing this action down at the pond, from up on the deck, one of our feral cats came to check me out – and I caught him on camera – one of the shots … Big Shot?
Also, I found the critter that took off with one of my traps last fall – and the trap too – in a foot or so of water, near where I’d originally set it on the hole in the bank last fall. Seems it was a muskrat, and not a mink. So, that’s 4 muskrats total, and 2 mink, I trapped last fall. Haven’t seen any muskrat tells so far this spring.
