WOW! Thanks for posting these pictures! What a delight!

When I was house hunting 11 years ago, I saw an otter in the pond behind one of the houses. Minutes later I saw one run across the road! I knew I had to live there! I called it Otter House and bought it. Although I love it here, I've never seen another otter in my yard. LOL They were probably animatronics otters put in place by the realtor.

Kate

Great pictures! I once saw an otter in our yard, as I rounded a corner and there he was, what a sleek beauty. Never saw another one. We wondered if he came from the canal not far from us.

Love those blues also.

FlowerLady

Doncha just love otters? They are so sleek and fast...the the Maseratis of the weasel world! And I love how they spend so much time playing when they finish feeding. Games of otter tag, river racing, mud sliding, and jump the log. They always seem to be having so much fun, keeping up a running chatter as they chase each other around.

Thanks for sharing the cool pictures. I'm pretty sure I will never see an otter in MY backyard, but I'm happy to see the one in YOURS!

Marcia

Nice photos Tom. We had a family of otters, mom and 3 kids on the pond at our past Naples home. They were fun to watch working together to herd a fish.

They were not afraid of humans, even as I walked closer and closer to take a photo. Curious about me and I was the one running away when they galloped toward me.

I like them way more than gators who always had an eye out for our small dog, especially since he was old and fell in the water more than once.

Great photos, Tom! Isn't nature amazing- how that heron waited around for a dinner opportunity? So much fun to watch creatures. I had an experience very similar to Denise. Last year at dawn, I was walking down the stairs looking out at our lined pond, when I noticed a great amount of turbulence out there. I called out to my husband and we went to the window to see what was going on. There was a family of otters in our little pond! Two parents and two little ones, making breakfast out of our goldfish!!! What better place to teach your little ones to fish than a small, enclosed pond with many brightly colored fish? I sent my DH out to scare them away. They did stop just for an instant out of interest, to see my husband hissing and waving his arms wildly, but then kept on till they had their fill, and then, acting annoyed, went on their way (there is a larger pond across the street). I love experiences like that.

Anna

Very cool.

Anna, your pond gets more interesting wildlife than any I've ever seen. I think because it is so big and looks so much like a natural pond, with grassy banks, and all. Plus, perhaps the location of your home is conducive to having neighboring wildlife, too.

As much as I love goldfish in ponds, I would trade a few for an experience like that! I just don't want well-fed neighborhood cats and dogs dining on them. But otters...they're just doing what they have to do to survive. They saw a great opportunity and took it. Hope it wasn't too distressing to lose some fish to them.

Marcia

Thanks everyone, I'm glad you enjoyed the pictures. We've had massive flocks of migratory ducks hanging out for the last six weeks, always fun to watch then and they've gotten so use to me that I really don't scare them anymore. In the fall when many birds are migrating through it's not unusual to wake up to a thousand birds lining the lake...interesting to watch a flock of cormorants fishing the waters along a section of shoreline and the herons, egrets and storks running along the shore to catch fish moving into the cattails in an attempt to escape the cormorants, I've got to get a picture of that next year.

I took these pictures last year on 09/13

Nice pictures Tom! Wildlife at its best.

Willy

Thanks Willy, counting down the days til your BBQ. Busted my butt this weekend getting the new mater sets in and the cukes and zukes sowed in their little condo towers, I'll post a picture once things start growing again. Now down to only four maters, a dozen peppers and a forest of onions and icicle radishes to hold me over for the next 60 days....

Tom

Tom, consider yourself lucky! You were spared from the cold spells. Your plan for the vegetables sound like a winner.

I hope to get fingerling potatoes, I had to carry the pots all the way to the porch. Good thing that is mostly hay. That is another advantage to growing in pots. You can move them!

I have a lot of onions and garlic too, I harvest every day some.

Willy

Wow, Tom, that's a lot of birds! You are lucky to have entertainment in your own backyard. Much better than tv or movies, too!

I had a little entertainment today too. For the first time ever, we had an inhinga bird sunning its wings by our pond today. We get occassional herons of every type, a few egrets and a few ducks, but had never seen an inhinga here before today. Soon we saw him dive in the water chasing the goldfish. My DH (who thinks he is protector of the goldfish), gets the long-handled net to chase it (not even getting close since the bird is an incredibly fast swimmer). Determined to scare the bird away, DH then gets his leaky waders and heads into the pond. Bird finally decided it was time to go, around the time my husband had a few gallons of very chilly water in his pants. I think next time he will let the bird have his fill of fish. The fun never ends around here!

Anna

Hahaha, Anna! I'm picturing your husband chasing the anhinga around your pond...too funny! Yes, they are VERY fast underwater...they "swim" by flapping their wings underwater, in addition to paddling with their feet. It's such an amazing bird. I'm glad he left before he decimated your fish population, though. I swear, you have so much wildlife at your pond, it's wonderful!! Always an adventure.

Tom, your egret pictures are lovely. You seem to have a lot of great egrets, and possibly immature little blue herons (also white), in the mix. Or the smaller ones might be snowy egrets, though that closer one looks more heronish to me. At any rate, a thriving, happy group, it appears!

Thanks for sharing!

Marcia

Yeah, it was pretty hilarious! Today there was a little green heron hanging around for hours. Very patient. He even spent some time standing on a lily pad. I got a picture of him and may post it later if I have time.

Anna

I think he was trying to hide amongst the flowers. He was ther e a long time.

WOW Anna, that's a GREAT picture. Too funny about your poor goldfish, do they spawn?

Marcia, I've really got to get better about identifying these birds....

Willy, I've got a lot of mater cuttings rooting in water to bring over to the BBQ ;-)

Denise, sure would be nice if you and Cindee could come to Willy's BBQ, but I realize it's pretty far away for you, kinda like me going to Ricky's :-(

Tom, about two years ago we bought seven 3-4 inch goldfish and shibunkins. Apparently at least one was pregnant because soon we had tiny ones everywhere. However, since they've lived in our pond, I have not been aware of any others spawning. Or maybe the eggs get eaten up. We have (or had) over a hundred, but now it seems they are being eaten little by little. We haven't fed them in over a year. They exist on whatever the pond provides, and the things that find them snack on them too. I guess that's the circle of life. Because there are so many, I cannot recognize them. That is a good thing, because it prevents me from getting too attached to them.

You are lucky to have such a beautiful, large pond to watch, without the upkeep, and attracting so much wildlife. Our concern with the wildlife is that one of these days the liner will get pierced by a beak, claw or tooth of one of these creatures.

Anna

I wonder if you need some artificial barriers of different sizes for them to hide in to limit the predation. Anyone have any thoughts on this?

The best thing you can do for pond fish is to give them plenty of plants for hiding, and to add some simple structures in the deepest part of the pond. One good idea is to lay a length of terra cotta pipe or even large PVC pipe in the middle of the pond. Terra cotta is nicer looking and will eventually get enough algae,etc, on it to blend in. A large flower pot turned on its side will help, too. But the pipe helps a lot. Fish will scoot right in there when being threatened by raccoons, etc. They could probably even hide from an anhinga in there.

White Birds 101: The largest white wading bird in your part of the state is the great egret. He will tower over the other white birds, being nearly as big as a great blue heron. The smaller white waders will usually be either immature little blue herons (grayish beak with a dark tip) or snowy egrets, who have bright yellow feet. That makes them pretty easy to ID. Then you have white ibis, with long downcurved pink beaks, and cattle egrets, who are the shortest of them all, and seen more often in pastures and along the roads. And there you have it. That's everybody except wood storks which are HUGE and have massive blackish beaks and heads, and aren't easily confused with anything else.

Anna, your green heron picture is beautiful! Some time back, these were called Little Green Herons (we always said it was because they had very little green on them, haha). But then they dropped the "little" for some reason. They are very clever and adaptable little birds. I used to watch one at the Periwinkle Trailer Park swan pond on Sanibel Island who had perfected the art of fishing with the pelletized bird food. He would take a couple of pellets out of the dish, go over to the water's edge and drop them in. Then he just waited for the all the little fishies to come nibble at the floating food. He had his technique perfected and was a very successful fisherbird.

You both have such lovely natural areas in your yards, where you can really enjoy nature when you garden! I swear, I'm going to get my horse trough next month, for sure. It will make a perfect birthday present. And then I can at least have a few goldfish and a lotus or two.

Marcia

Tom and Marcia,

They actually do have lots of places to hide. The philos on about a third of the edge overhang and have tangles of root structures in the water. The roots of the grass on the front half of the pond serve the same purpose as they get quite thick. Also, the boulders are on supporting structures that have small areas to seek shelter, and there are a few pipes in there that have some hiding areas also. The lilies probably do some good, and there are a few, skimpy submersible plants that we hope will take off this year. It's just that goldfish are so easy to spot!

Actually, aside from the otters and the inhinga, we haven't had too much predation. We purposely built the pond with a drop off edge to make discourage wading birds from getting in. WE've never seen a heron or egret actually step inside it. They patrol the edges and occassionally are able to snag one from the side, but it doesn't happen that often.

Anna, I think I remember you telling us about all the hiding places in your pond, and I know you have fantastic vegetation there. I was mostly just answering Tom's question about things one can do in general for reducing predation. What kind of pipes do you have in your pond, Anna? I'm thinking in my horse trough, I will have some sort of hiding place in the center, though with its raised sides, I don't believe I'm going to have a major problem with predators. But I still like for them to have a hiding place, as I think the fish feel more secure when they know there is somewhere to dart. Plus, it may take awhile before my plants really provide much shelter, even from the sun.

Marcia

Marcia, thanks for the tips on the birds. I'm going to get a camera with a better zoom, then maybe I'll actually be able to SEE the identifying features ;-)

Anna, sounds like you've done just about everything possible to provide a good habitat...goldfish are sure pretty to look at but for them I guess the lack of camouflage makes them a rather conspicuous target.

Tom

Tom, even with the camera you've got, you can spot the great egrets. They tower over the other birds. In picture #2, there are at least four on your lawn, with a smaller bird in front that is probably an immature little blue heron. I can't see its feet to be sure they aren't yellow like the snowy egret's, but the bill looks kind of lightish, and snowy egrets have black bills. So little blue heron is my guess. But the great egrets stand out. All those taller birds are great egrets.

I'm with ya on the camera...I'm getting a new one soon, too! Won't we be just happy when we do, eh?

Marcia

Marcia, there is a pipe from the very deepest portion, then tracking the shelf, and eventually going out of the pond to the biofilter. Then there is another pipe coming into the pond for an inlet and some oxygenation. The fish cannot hide in the pipes, but they can get between the pipe and the shelves or boulders.

Tom, how much of the year do you have ducks in your pond? Do they breed there? What type of ducks have you seen?

Anna

Oh, I see. I was thinking of a shorter piece of pipe just as a hiding place. Many pond books recommend it. Of course, with the size of your pond and all your wonderful plants, leaves, roots, etc, your fish don't need it, I'm sure. But mine probably will. I'm keeping my eyes open for the right kind of thing. I'll know it when I see it, I guess.

Thanks, Anna!

Marcia