I Finally Saw the Hawk

Saturday afternoon I quietly approach the back window and saw the Hawk sitting on a branch on the tree over the pond. He flew as soon as he realized I was there and his wing span must have been 5 feet. I do think the netting along with the colder water has slowed his fish lunches. It is good to know for sure who was eating the fish but there doesn't seem to be anything to stop. Maybe a scarecrow would help.

The Water is Getting Cold

This is a tough time of year at the pond. The plants don't look as good and almost all the blooms are gone. The trees are losing their leaves trashing the pond so I spend too much time picking out as many leaves as possible so they don't ruin the water quality. The water temperature is under 60 degrees which means the fish spend almost all of their time sleeping on the bottom. No more voracious attacks when I throw in the food. I've gone from 3 feeding a day to 1. The frogs have gone to hibernate. My wife has caught a glimpse of the hawk a couple of times and one day smelled fish around the pond, which concerned her that he got another fish. We still have the net over the pond which I hate because it destroys the view and makes it hard to play in the water. Today we spent about 3 hours moving the plants that can't take the coming freeze back into the house. The house plants love to spend time outside but it sure is a chore moving them back and forth. We started working on some Christmas gifts today.

Mystery Preditor Bird Indentified?

Twice this week my wife has come home midday and noticed a very large bird by the pond. Once the bird was sitting on the top of the lamp post over the deep end of the large pond. Today he was sitting on the apple tree over the shallow end of the pond. Luckily the net over the pond appears to have kept him from dining on our goldfish. He flies away very quickly but from the sketchy description, it sound like we have a Hawk with an appetite for goldfish. I hope I can get a good look and maybe a picture of what I'm being challenged by. Once I know, it will be easier to design a defense.

Today I Felt Like a Fish

It has been a very dry August and September forcing me to add water to both ponds about twice a week. Finally the rain came yesterday morning and it didn't stop until late this afternoon. All total we had almost 3 inches of rain which overflowed both ponds bringing much needed fresh water and flushing some of the contaminated water from the pond. The goldfish tend to stay near the bottom of the pond in the heavy rain so we didn't see much of them. So why did I feel like a fish; this afternoon I attended the College of William & Mary football game in a steady rainstorm. It has been a long time since I sat in the rain for 4 hours but at least William & Mary won so that made it worthwhile.

Scary Day at the Pond

Tonight I noticed some gold scales on a chair by the pond and all the fish were hiding. All I can figure is there is a predator bird that captured a fish from the pond and sat on the chair to eat it. I'm not sure what to do without knowing exactly what I am fighting but I covered the pond with a black plastic net for now. I will research some solutions for a more permanent idea.