Photo Art From The Wildlife Camera

Here is a photo from the wildlife camera that is quite interesting. My wife said I should refer to the camera as a wildlife camera instead of a predator spy camera so I am. I think this photo happened when I removed the camera from it's mounted location. We printed it and framed it as the colors enhance some dishes we have in a glass display. According to the weather reports, we may have icebergs on the pond next week.

Goldfish in Winter

With the water temperature just under 40 degrees, the goldfish don't swim around much. Here is a great picture of a bunch of them laying just above the bottom of the pond. As you can see they didn't scatter when I moved the stryofoam, they are almost motionless. I have cut back on the feeding from daily or twice a day to weekly and they don't go after the food with any vigor at all. It is nice to see so many fish with the frequent visit by the Egret who I have read can clean a pond of fish pretty fast.

Egret and Owl Outsmart the Camera

Earlier this week, I went home for lunch and I startled the Egret who was hanging around the pond. It was quite thrilling to be 20 feet away when this huge bird took off. The camera didn't capture any images because the Egret was just off to the other side of the pond so he didn't trip the sensor. At 5 am the next day I was letting the dogs out and there was an Owl sitting on top of one of the lamp posts. He too didn't set off the camera as it is aimed at pond level and the Owl was on top of the 7 foot post. Finally this morning, the outside temperature was in the mid teens and the camera display said low-battery so I couldn't tell if there were any photos. When I looked yesterday, the battery was showing a 3/4 charge so I guess the camera battery and very cold temperatures just don't get along.

I Love El Nino

El Nino is great this year. Today, Jan. 14, the temperature was 75 degrees and the pond water was 60 degrees. I took advantage of this warm weather to clean the filters and pick out a bunch of leaves. I can report that there are plenty of fish left for the Egret which tells me my stryofoam shields may be working. The first picture shows the large pond with no plant to soften the view. The second picture is the small pond with the pots sans plants all around. Alas, this may not last, the weather man says brutal cold is coming this week. I hope he is wrong
because a couple of more weeks and the daffodils will be blooming.

Predator Spy Camera Catches the Egret

The camera is incredible. We got this great picture of the Egret on Jan. 10 at 1:50 pm. He could be a work of art standing like a sculpture next to the pond. The table behind him is 28 inches tall, so this is a big bird. This picture disputes my theory that he only visited the goldfish buffet at dawn. I guess we can expect guests for dinner anytime. The weather has been wonderful for the past couple of weeks with only a night or two below freezing. The water temperature in the pond even reached 60 degrees and the fish became quite active. Alas, the weather man says things will change next week so we will be watching for icebergs on the pond.

Homepond Blog Becomes a Book

I wanted to give my mother a unique gift for her birthday and I thought my pond blog could be that unique gift. My mother isn't excited about using a computer and so I needed to decide on a less technical method for her. I have published all of the blog entries including the photos from August 2005 thru December 2006 in a book. The book is called The Pond Diary and is available at lulu.com. The direct link is http://www.lulu.com/content/599985. The book turned out great and is available in soft cover for purchase or can be downloaded in pdf format for free.

Predator Spy Camera Captures Egret or Blue Heron

The Camera works. Here are 3 pictures from the spy camera.


The first shows the Egret or Blue Heron walking into the picture exposing his long neck The second gives a great view of his well fed body - probably from a great diet of goldfish. You can see the stryofoam guards I have floating on the pond surface to help protect the fish. I don't know how well they are working but they must create some challenges for the bird. The 3rd picture was taken with my hand held camera as the bird took off when he saw me.






The last picture shows a squirrel who activated the camera when he was crawling on one of the blue tubs.

Predator Spy Camera Picture

Here is a spy camera picture. Our 12 years old Great Dane got caught when he had to go out early on the morning of the 28th. This picture did verify the camera works so now we wait for the predators. I saw a large bird take off from the pond area a couple of times last weekend but didn't get a picture. The bird was probably an Egret and it was huge. It took off when I opened the shade and landed on a large branch in an oak tree about 100 feet away. The Egret may have moved on since I haven't seen him since Sunday morning.