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The Daily Bucket. September/October report from Dellinger's Pond-meadow [1]

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Date: 2022-10-20

I had a bit of a rough September. On August 29, a perforated viscus (my large intestine popped a hole, filled my abdominal cavity with air, incredibly painful, and I thought I wuzgonnadie) took me down for emergency surgery, six days of hospitalization, and home with the damnable nuisance of an ileostomy.

But you can’t keep an idiot nature enthusiast like me down for long without something a lot more serious than that.

For one thing, it was to my distinct and healthful advantage to get up and get out as soon as possible and get some exercise, like very moderate walking and bicycling.

The Daily Bucket is a nature refuge. We amicably discuss animals, weather, climate, soil, plants, waters and note life’s patterns. We invite you to note what you are seeing around you in your own part of the world, and to share your observations in the comments below. Each note is a record that we can refer to in the future as we try to understand the phenological patterns that are quietly unwinding around us. To have the Daily Bucket in your Activity Stream, visit Backyard Science’s profile page and click on Follow.

At any rate, for the time being the worst seems to be over, I’ve been getting out more, summer is waning and the pond has been changing over the months. Right now, it’s all dried out, except for the small amount of water that continually flows in from a spring/seep. Two reference photos, last month and one day ago:

September 20, 2022. You can just see the trail of the year-round water flow in the lower part of the photo, diagonally from lower left.

CLICK FOR FULL SIZE IMAGE

October 19, 2022. Here you can see the drying is more pronounced.

CLICK FOR FULL SIZE IMAGE

Compare the above photos with a winter photo:

March 5, 2022. Don’t let the water fool you. It’s only a foot or so deep, actually. But the ducks love it!

In looking at my records, I’m surprised (to myself) that I actually got over to the pond in September on three separate occasions. Not bad for walking wounded.

September 15

September 23

September 29. Gray Fox

September 29

Hmmmm….. sorta getting a Great Blue Heron theme going here, ain’t I? Well, the truth is there’s been a GBH at the pond, usually just the one single bird so I’m presuming it’s been the same individual over the months, on nearly every occasion I’ve visited. Some trips, though, no heron. However, as the title photo of today’s diary shows, yesterday “Harper” (as I’ve named the GBH, even though I have no certainty it’s always been the same bird) was back home at the pond.

I snapped over a dozen frames of Harper over the space of a few minutes; the bird scarcely moved a muscle. Then when I moved in closer to try to get to a different vantage spot the heron flew off.

I hung around for another thirty minutes or so, hoping for something unusual or exciting, but the action was limited pretty much to the ubiquitous Steller’s Jays and some Golden-crowned Sparrows, the latter of which were not very photo-obliging. Ah, well.

A Mallard Duck couple did fly in shortly before I left; the drake very colorful:

Harking back to last week, before I close this diary, another reference photo of the pond and one more birdie:

Solid dry; you can walk right out. I did. This was a “nothing to see” day.

The best I could manage for the day.

Maybe we’ll get some rain before the end of the year and I’ll have wet pond photos for you once again.

For further back in time at the pond, here’s the link to my August report.

Now It's Your Turn.

What have you noted happening in your area or travels? As usual post your observations as well as their general location in the comments.

Thank you.

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