What have YOU seen?

Hey, all of you Stearns Mill Pond denizens and users, what have YOU seen on the pond or brook? Contribute your info - what great sightings, what birds, what animals, what sad things, what changes (good and bad), what wonderful moments have there been? Let's share what we know and love about our pond.
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Click on the picture to see it in a larger format (all photos by D.Muffitt unless otherwise credited)

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

PICKING UP WATER CHESTNUT SEED PODS & OTTER SIGHTINGS

I went out to paddle this AM, intending to go to the upper end of the pond and see who was there, but I never got past about mid-way.  I flushed about 50 Canada geese, saw a gorgeous red-tail, the kingfisher and a muskrat.  On my way west to the upper end, I saw some floating water chestnut nuts/seedpods and picked them up.  I have attached a gallon water jug to my seat thwart on my canoe so that I can pick them up and not have them in the bottom of the canoe for Blake to step on and get stuck in his paw.  Anyway, I started picking them up and about 15 minutes later, I had about 1/3 of the jug filled!  So if I picked up 75 nuts, that is about 750 plants that won't grow next year!  YES!

Last night Suzanne emailed:
Was sitting outside watching just before you and Linda went out in the kayaks. The otters went back and forth almost exactly where your kayaks were. I'm pretty sure the big otter carried a fish back. There was one big otter and one smaller.  The muskrats were busy on the other side of our house.
Interestingly, we went out because Linda thought she had seen a beaver or an otter in our cove (which is where Suzanne saw us sitting).  We were thinking beaver because it was bigger and shaggier, but it could have been an otter.  We watched one return to the same place Suzanne & Michael saw it, but couldn't tell what it was; definitely not a muskrat as it had a bigger head and a bigger nose.  Later, from the boats, we saw muskrats going back and forth and returning to that same area between our houses.  It seemed like they just went across to the vegetation and then came back, without taking time to eat or bring anything.  What are they doing?  "Back in a few, honey.  I'm going to go do a few laps."

2 comments:

  1. I was out for a long time at dusk. 21 beautiful wood ducks across the pod. Saw the otter(s) again, going back to the same spot. Also saw what must have been muskrats but two times they got out and sat on the log between our houses. The first time it cleaned and munched aquatic plants and the second time just sat around until it got so dark that I went in. I wasn't positive it was a muskrat because it seemed so large. It was definitely plant material.

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  2. So cool that you saw the muskrats out and on the log! I'll have to prowl at dusk, too. :-)
    Those logs between our houses are where Linda & I saw the critters returning too, both what we thought was an otter, and the muskrat. Aren't those wood ducks beautiful! And the setting sun makes the pond magic. Nice.

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Please leave a comment about things you have seen and noticed.