Making It Up As I Go Along #469

Where Did They Come From?
Where did the fish come from? The logical question to ask of a man made pond.

Ten years ago it was a bog. The land filled with grasses and bushes… shrubs… and the odd tree. Field mice would have been plentiful I’m sure. Skunk and shrews as well.

Sure there would be gullies staying constantly damp. The mossy ground would give under foot with a slosh. But nowhere would you find a fish.

In the wet times, maybe tadpoles would flutter through the gullies. And dragonfly larvae would hover in the still water. Mosquitos called this area home for generations… swimming in a half foot of stagnant water before breaking the surface to buzz over the land as a growing, living cloud. But never a fish.

Eight years ago, the pond was dug. It was originally set to be a storm water facility… a dry depression of land when the rains were rare… a place for water to collect now that pavement now sits where peaty mosses once did.

And the waters trickled in. Filling the depression and never leaving. The waters always replenishing before evaporation is able to return the spot to grasses.

As time goes, ducks fly in… joined by geese in the fall… and shore birds take up nests in the maturing trees.

And frogs colonize the waters. An evening stroll had to be taken with eyes on the ground. Otherwise, frog guts would have to be scraped from shoe upon the return home.

But with each of these new animals, no great mystery is felt. Frogs can make the journey over land. Ducks spot the site from the air. And the larvae of the dragonflies and mosquitos are deposited within the water in a most logical sort of way. Even a beaver stopped for a while… most likely happening upon the spot accidently while out for a meandering waddle through the fields.

And two years ago it happens. Looking into the cloudy waters from the shore, a small school of fish is seen milling about. Small enough to be confused for those dragonfly young at first… but, upon further inspection, for sure to be actual fish. Pricklies, being the name given to them when I grew up. Stickle Backs being the more common name.

And even though you’re surprised to see them there, they’re so small that you can trick yourself into believing they can make it. Swimming through pores in the ground… or maybe even being created from the lakebed mud itself.

But then this year, the miracle became complete. Full sized fish have found their way to the pond.

One of my walks has me come across a three or four inch fish, laying dead upon the trail. Scaly and reddish in hue. And this brings sense to what I saw a few days prior. When I thought I saw a gull dive into the water from above, to come out, obviously not a web footed gull but a taloned falcon or hawk… with a small red speck hanging beneath it as he soared back into the sky.

And each day that I walk, I now see one or two of those falcons, or hawks, gliding in circles and occasionally splashing down into the water… looking for a meal.

So how did they get here? These red fish that seem too plentiful to be a discarded pet or two. There’s no swimming through the pores of the land… they’re much too big. And a miracle from the mud seems far fetched too.

But they’re here. Be it from storm water drains, swimming along as fish explorers venturing from previously known ponds and streams, through culverted rivers, and fortunate enough to reach these waters before their transportation… and lifeline… dry up.

And now it seems the transformation is near complete. From a wet field of mice and shrubs with the occasional gully, to a little lake ecosystem. Where generations of ducks and muskrat now live… and where fish have appeared almost out of nowhere, yet still unable to hide… from soaring birds… looking for a bit of lunch.

THURSDAY…
--- Work day… tired… feeling a little run down… but get through okay anyway.

FRIDAY…
--- More days. I’m run down and feeling close to sick for much of the day… improving by 3:00 or so.
--- Rain all afternoon. Pouring.

SATURDAY…
--- Up for physio… shoulder is still not happy and hasn’t been on an upswing for ten days now.
--- Work is quiet… quite quiet tonight.

SUNDAY…
--- Another quiet night. Drive by my new place after work (at 6:00 AM). Got walls up for the first floor now. Nice.

MONDAY…
--- Sleep until 11:00ish. A walk of the pond after time on the phone there with mom (getting a bit of a sun burn as I talk out in the sun). Some groceries in the evening and a bit of TV.

TUESDAY…
--- Meet Sarah to get tickets for an August concert. Steve Earle and City and Colour.
--- Physio after that. A lesser level than normal to try to get my shoulder back into better times.
--- A couple of groceries after that.
--- Thunder storm this evening… pretty heavy for a short while.

WEDNESDAY…
--- Dentist in the morning. Looks like some filling work will be done in the next year. Nothing need doing right now though.
--- See, via Twitter and then CBC, that there is a big accident just near mom and dad’s place back home… even see a Subaru involved and I’m not sure what type mom and dad’s is. Luckily, I get in touch with them and it isn’t their car.
--- A few laps of the pond. Falcons now hover over and dive bomb fish.