So Much Going On!!

So Much Going On!!

June 30, 2016

The end of June saw tremendously more rain, causing great changes at Cottonwood Pond in water flow, plant growth and, especially, animal activity.

I went down to Cottonwood Pond in the early afternoon of a sunny, 85 degree day (cooler than previous days) and low humidity. Other than bird song, the woods were rather quiet. It had been dry the previous day, but then rained all night and morning. It was quite a pleasant and interesting time to visit.

Overall Impressions:

The slope was becoming even more bare, and the bottom land even more lush, creating an even sharper contrast.

The Creek and main pond had a good deal of water (compared to previous days), though not as much as I had expected. The Inlet was muddy, but not full of water.

Black Walnut shell in Creek

The Creek - looking upstream

The main pond

The Inlet

The corner of the pond near the Inlet

The opposite corner of the pond, with the start of the Seep (left) and Isthmus (above)

During previous days, I had peeked down at Cottonwood Pond from the top of the woods and saw that it had, essentially, dried up, so it was back to “square one.” This day, it was just beginning to refill.

Near the pond edge, seedlings were able to sprout during the previous stretch of dry weather

Barely visible Seep

The end of the Seep, where it meets the Creek - a glimmer of water

"little pond", with not much water

Pounding rain and just plain gravity have been gouging out dirt from the edge of the Root Ball

Temporary Creek #1, headed toward Cottonwood Pond

The pond water was surprisingly clear and the silt settled, considering the previous heavy rain.

Plants

Honewort changing from flowers to seeds

Tall grasses near the Inlet

Tall Jewelweed growing on Mud Pile #1

Wood Nettle rising above surrounding vegetation

The sun illuminating stinging hairs on the stems and petioles of Wood Nettle

The Boxelder near the Cottonwood Trunk getting very tall

Tree saplings growing from the top edge of the Root Ball

Leaves of the Bent Blue Beech

Those Elderberry plants!!

Looking sparser, as petals fall and berries begin to form

Giant flower head

Green berries forming

And the Monkey Flower Plants!

Zooming in closer to those, I saw evidence of animal activity:

In fact, I could see that insects (and their larvae) had been very busy.

Chewed Jewelweed leaves

Gall on Wood Nettle leaf from a midge (Dasineura investita)

The flat, spot galls of a gall midge on a Wild Yam leaf are wearing through, like little peepholes

Something has bored a neat hole in the Barkless Log, leaving "sawdust"

I also saw a number of actual insects.

Ants  on a log!! On the Barkless Log - one is carrying an ant pupa

Black-Winged Damselfly on a Jewelweed

A beetle on a leaf

Two different kinds of flies on leaves

A Cranefly at rest (genus Tipula)

A Skipper on Jewelweed

There were a number of butterflies in the area, but flying too quickly for me to photograph.

There were other critters, or signs of them.

Land Snail on a Goldenrod leaf

Large Crawdad chimneys

Young Green Frog at the edge of the pond

A young frog, still with a tiny tail, pops out of the pond for air

The frogs were definitely back, enjoying the aquatic renewal. I even saw a frog hop over the berm and go through the Cove. Air bubbles from the bottom of the pond belied their hiding places in the pond mud or under leaves.

I stood quietly for awhile and listened Birds gradually moved in closer to where I was. Among the songs and calls I heard were those of Mourning Dove, Eastern Towhee, Blue Jay, Pewee, Summer Tanager, and Yellow-Billed Cuckoo.

Another adventure at Cottonwood Pond.