SUMMER DUCK POND

     There is a quarter-acre pond, surrounded by a regularly-mowed, tree-dotted lawn, and bordered by a long, narrow dense thicket of trees, shrubbery, vines and tall grasses and "weeds" on one side of the lawn.  That human-made impoundment, lawn and thicket together are nestled between a Lancaster County, Pennsylvania town and cropland.  And, although the pond and lawn are manicured, and heavily used by fisher-people and other folks in summer, several kinds of adaptable wildlife spend at least part of each summer there, most of them searching for food.  Those creatures are used to people being at the pond in summer, and they show the value of being adaptable, to survive, even where people abound. 

     The lawn, thickets and surrounding farmland are pleasantly-green, making them a beautiful, peaceful place to relax and enjoy the scenery, and the fishing for bluegill sunfish and large-mouthed bass.

     Several mallard ducks dominate the pond in summer.  In June of 2024, I saw six mallard families of mothers and their ducklings.  The ducklings were of different sizes and ages, indicating the hens didn't start setting at the same time.  And brood sizes were one duckling in one family to ten in another brood, even though each mallard hen lays about twelve eggs per clutch.  The clutch size difference indicates that the eggs and ducklings were preyed on by striped skunks, raccoons, mink, hawks and other predators. 

     Other kinds of aquatic creatures inhabit this pond in summer, including various types of dragonflies, red-eared sliders and an occasional belted kingfisher, and a group of Canada geese.  Some of the sliders have top shells that are ten inches long.  The turtles were hatched on turtle farms and sold when babies. Later, some people didn't want them and released them into waterways and impoundments, where they grew to maturity.     

     Several purple grackles and a pair of killdeer plovers ingest invertebrates from the edges of the pond.  The camouflaged killdeer nest in nearby fields, but the grackles raise young in local trees.   

     American robins, starlings, house sparrows, mourning doves, cottontail rabbits, wood chucks and fireflies are all noticed on the short-grass lawn around this impoundment during summer.  Most are  there to get food.  Robins and starlings consume invertebrates.  House sparrows and doves pick up seeds.  And the rabbits and chucks eat grass, white clover, common plantain and other plants on that lawn.  Fireflies don't eat anything as adults.  But their flashing, abdominal lights each evening from mid-June to mid-July are charming as the males wing slowly over the lawn in the increasing twilight to watch for females to mate with.  

     Permanent resident northern cardinals, song sparrows and American goldfinches, and summering gray catbirds live and nest in thickets.  All these bird species glean invertebrates off thicket foliage and feed that to their babies in their cradles.  

     Cottontails, chucks and opossums live under the thickets, where they are hidden, and give birth.

     Some of the larger trees on the lawn and in the thickets include choke cherries, silver maples, tulip trees, black walnuts, and planted Norway and blue spruces.  Gray squirrels, blue jays and summering eastern kingbirds raise young in those trees.  Squirrels consume nuts and seeds, while jays ingest invertebrates in summer and kingbirds fly out to grab flying insects to eat.  

     But the best part of partly-clear, summer days at this human-made impoundment is during the lovely sunsets.  Several barn swallows and a few each of tree swallows and purple martins sweep swiftly over the pond to snare flying insects in their large mouths, as they had, off and on, all day.  And as the evening quickly passes, about a dozen swallow-like chimney swifts join the swallows in pursuing flying insects.  The swifts are fast on stiffly-beating wings and long, zig-zag glides.  And the silhouetted flights of swallows, martins and swifts are interesting and beautiful to see before pastel sunsets and over the still, mirror-like water that reflects the lovely sky.    

     Then, all those careening birds, weaving among each other in the air, suddenly disappear.  They all went to roost.  Now a few little brown bats engage in intriguing, aerial ballets as they, too, pursue flying insects to eat before sunsets and gathering darkness.  The bats flutter, swoop and dive swiftly on skin wings as expertly as swallows, martins and swifts do.  All these species are adapted to life on the wing. 

     Summer evenings at this pond, and innumerable other places in nature, are lovely, inspiring and peaceful.  One can feel the presence of God!      








































 

     

         


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