An April Sampling
April 12 and 13, 2018
April 12
The light green dusting of springtime
was starting to show in our woodland with some sweeps of green here
and there on the forest floor, clearly visible through trees that
were bare or barely beginning to leaf.
Woodland and Creek, looking southeast
Looking down the slope to Cottonwood Pond and the Creek
A Mayapple-covered slope behind Cottonwood Pond, facing south
It was a very warm, wet, windy day.
The wet had happened previously, as heavy rains had created heavy
flow.
Riffles and pools in the Creek
Looking upstream beyond the Barkless Log
Where the Creek disappears down a hole (before reappearing a little further downstream)
Just downstream of the Barkless Log -
the "island" being sculpted by diverted water during heavy flow
The Creek and some new pathways being created - this is also the section where water sometimes diverts from the Creek toward the Inlet of Cottonwood Pond
Lines at the Creek edge mark previous water levels
A water-worn path from the Creek toward the Inlet, debris from the rush piled alongside a log
The Inlet, where water enters Cottonwood Pond from two directions (the newest direction coming from the Creek during overflow)
The pond side of the Inlet
A full Temporary Creek #1 - water flows into the Swampy Spot, then in two directions toward the Inlet (main pond) and "little pond"
The Seep (middle, coming from the pond corner) flowing into the Creek
View of the Seep flowing toward and into the Creek
The main pond, and overflow paths that drain to the Seep and Creek
The Isthmus, between the main pond (top) and "little pond"
The Isthmus - a dry spot between the main pond and "little pond" at the north edge of the Cottonwood Root Ball - water had recently flowed over this, leaving silt on the leaf layer
Circles in the pond mud from recently raindrops
The Swampy Spot lived up to its name as
I felt my boots sink in when I walked across.
Since the weather had calmed, water in
Cottonwood Pond was very still. The rush of silt into the pond and
Creek had settled to the bottom.
And since that time, worms had been
crawling about on the silt layer of the pond and Creek.
Top: tiny worm holes in the mud
There were numerous tiny nodules
scattered across the pond bottom. I was not able to determine what
they were. Tiny new snails? Detritus settled on the bottom? Tiny
beetles?
A many-segmented Isopod (probably an
Aquatic Sowbug) scooted across the silty bottom, hiding under an old
leaf when it sensed my presence.
Within the top layer of the water, many
mosquito larvae wiggled from surface to shortly below, and back
again.
I heard no Chorus Frogs calling on that
day. I did find a twig, just inside the water's edge, with a
gelatinous mass attached. A closer look revealed very tiny tadpoles
(as well as another Sowbug.) I assumed I had not heard the Chorus
Frogs because their mating season had ended, for the most part.
The soft mud revealed larger animal
activity:
Bird tracks at the edge of the Creek
?
And, most significantly – deer tracks
at Cottonwood Pond!
Deer track in the mud of the Isthmus
Deer tracks in the mud of the start of Temporary Creek #2, near the Isthmus
I had wondered for a long time if the
deer (often seen in the upper area of the woodland and crossing the
Creek further northwest) ever came down to Cottonwood Pond, but I'd
never seen any definitive deer tracks. It only made sense to me that
they would visit this bowl of water in the bottom land, unless the
barking of our dogs uphill (in the yard) deterred them.
On this day, I had proof that they did
come.
And, one goal of mine is to set up a
“trail cam” at Cottonwood Pond to see deer, or anything else,
that shows up there.
The progress of Spring was bringing
more plants to leaf and bloom.
Waterleaf plants on the slope above Cottonwood Pond
Mayapples opening
Prairie Trilliums in bud
Spring Beauty
Cut-leaved Toothwort
Honewort
Jewelweed with two sets of true leaves
Fragile Ferns
It would be a good time of year to do
some sampling.
April 13
The morning was sunny, windy, very warm
… and oh, so soggy!
The Creek was the color of milky tea as
it transported so much silt after heavy rains. Water-settling areas
were overflowing.
Bottom land and Creek, to the southeast
Creek , and flow up to Inlet
Isthmus (top), main pond, Seep from main pond down to Creek
And it seemed to me that, within
twenty-four hours, things were a bit more green.
On the slope, among Waterleaf plants - a bit larger than the day before
The slope going down to Cottonwood Pond
A new cluster of Blue Violet leaves on the Mud Pile
So, it was back to Cottonwood Pond in
the afternoon to see what these conditions had yielded. By then there
was less wind, but the atmosphere was cool and cloudy.
On the way down the slope I met up with a Garter Snake, very still and watchful of this human.
The water had receded considerably
since morning and had also almost completely cleared of suspended
silt.
The Creek near Cottonwood Pond (the "island" forming in the foreground)
The main pond, much receded by afternoon
The bones of old root pieces, fallen from the Cottonwood Root Ball
It was a better time to do some
sampling.
With my magnifier loupe, I was better
able to see the tiny tadpoles in the gelatinous blob (found the day
before.)
They were likely tadpoles of Chorus
Frogs. They still had yolk sacs. I was sorry they had become
separated from the mass and hoped it wasn't too early for them.
I also pulled up a dead midge. There
were a number of dead midges on the pond surface. Had they died after
laying eggs on the water?
Another little creature I pulled up was
a dead ant. This was definitely a terrestrial animal that had been
swept into the pond when water washed through the nearby leaf litter.
Later, I examined it under the
stereoscope and drew it.
When I pulled some water from the pond,
I had also found a tiny black speck, less than 1/16 inches. Under my
loupe, I saw it had many segments, six legs, and a pair of antennae,
so I knew it was an insect. Sometimes it curled its abdomen upward.
I determined it to be a Water
Springtail (Podura aquatica), from the Class Collembola. A rather
cute little being, it curls up and uses a device under its body to
spring forward so fast that the motion seems invisible.
Looking at water samples under the
stereoscope, I saw red filaments and blue-green filaments (all algae)
and a curious creature that I needed to see under higher
magnification, but was not able to find again.
In a muddy water sample I found lots of
irregular blobs, quivering and moving around quickly, almost in a
chain reaction. After awhile they pulled together in two large masses
(one mass around a brown filament) and quieted. Were these beings that
dart around, disturbing gelatinous blobs of detritus? Or were they
something like amoeba? Again, I needed greater magnification.
Looking at more samples at higher
magnification (on slides), this is what I saw and drew:
Mysteries.
Or, I was just really rusty in
identifying aquatic microorganisms - though I did consult my pond and
wetland books.
Well, it was the first sampling of
2018.
Hopefully, I would find time to do more
throughout 2018.
