Around the Pond in 80 Minutes
Late June and Early July
Phenology – “a branch of science concerned with the relationship between climate and periodic biological phenomena (as the migration of birds or the flowering and fruiting of plants).
A midsummer afternoon. Warm, not hot, scattered clouds in a clear blue sky, a light breeze – a fine time for a slow walk around the pond. As always, I approach the pond slowly, camera in hand, looking for butterflies and dragonflies in the little field below the dam. Wait - a fritillary is fluttering over the clover!
Will it pose? Yes!
It’s another ten yards to the pond. I take the final steps cautiously, hoping not to spook any frogs, turtles, dragonflies, or birds who might be nearby. Off to the right, a frog jumps in; a few yards offshore, a turtle takes a quick look at me, then ducks under. As usual, several dragonflies ignore me as they fly in, around, and through the small opening in the cattails. It’s nice to see a few of the corporals, whitefaces, and clubtails that dominated the shoreline back in June, but today I’m hoping to see the larger, more spectacular dragonflies of midsummer. There’s one now! A 12-spotted skimmer, easily identified by its spectacular wing patterns. I’ll just stand still, knowing it may soon land nearby, ready to defend its territory from a perch near the shore. A few minutes go by, and I’m about to give up, but then it lands on a twig right in from of me, proud of its black and white patterned wings. Beautiful! Maybe a couple of the equally lovely widow skimmers are also around today.
Photos and text by Carl D. Martland, a founding member of ACT and a long-time resident of Sugar Hill. Quotations from his journals indicate the date of and the situation depicted in each photograph.
Widow Skimmer, July 13, 2019
Spotted Skimmer, July 29, 2015
July 9, 2019, 100pm, partly cloudy, warm, dry. I spent a happy hour and a half taking photos of insects. A red-waisted whiteface sat on the larch log at our end, unbothered by the larger chalk-fronted corporal sitting a couple of inches away. A 12-spotted skimmer flew in and out at our end. A widow skimmer posed on lupine after flying around the drain.
I continue out along the dam, noticing damselflies and whirligig beetles near the shore and various butterflies, wasps and bees in the flowers along the top of the dam. The lupine has gone to seed, but new flowers are opening along the dam. I’m happy to see some milkweed scattered here that may attract Monarch butterflies later in the summer. Clover and vetch are in full bloom, and I can see some yellow on the goldenrod, but it is the Black-Eyed Susans that really catch my eye.
Milkweed just coming into bloom.
July 15, 2019
Black-Eyed Susans line my trail along the dam.
July 16, 2019
A tiny bee, like me, is attracted to the Black-Eyed Susans.
July 14, 2020
Out near the end of the dam, a pair of green darners has landed on some of the dead cattail leaves that float a few feet offshore. The male grasps the female by the back of her neck while she slowly lays eggs, dipping her abdomen first into the water on one side and then into the other side. Green darners almost always line up this way when the female lays her eggs, and this is the only time that it is possible to take a good photo of a male.
July 7, 2020, 75 degrees. In the afternoon, I went out to the pond. A green darner tandem flew in from the NE corner, taking a look at two possible landing sites before settling down on some pond detritus floating on the surface just past the drain. Soon she was laying eggs.
Now I head back along the dam, listening to the chattering redwings, one of which flies in small circles right over my head, trying unsuccessfully to keep me from walking too close to its nest. His mate is perched nearby in an alder, waiting until I move along before bringing some tasty grubs to her youngsters, who are still in the nest, whimpering and hoping for more to eat. After the redwings have headed south, I’ll row alongside the shore, looking for their nests that are usually located just a foot or two inside a dense patch of cattails.
Male redwing blackbird.
July 3, 2019
Female redwing blackbird.
July 2, 2019
Back near our end of the pond, I have a good view of four painted turtles sunning on a large rock near the opposite shore, but two of them quickly scamper into the water. Sometimes as many as a half dozen turtles occupy this rock, setting up a nice photo of a multi-generational family. The youngest ones have shells less than two inches long, while the oldest have shells four times as long. The pattern of seams between the plates of a turtle’s shell are unique to each turtle. So, by close examination of my photos, I know that at least 20 painted turtles live by the pond.
Painted Turtles will sit in the sun for hours on this rock, but they will slide into the water if you approach too close.
August 14, 2020
On my way out to the Point, I hear the familiar chirping of a common yellowthroat as it rummages through the small bushes at the edge of the Upper Meadow. Where is it? Oh, over there, half hidden by a leaf. The female is quite drab, but the male sports a fine black mask that contrasts with his brilliant yellow chest. These warblers are not shy, but they are more interested in finding some insects in the brush than they are in sitting in the open for any photographer who happens by. That probably is just as well, for I have often seen a kestrel sitting high in a nearby pine just waiting for an unwary bird to sit for too long out in the open.
A Kestrel sitting high in this pine tree has a fine view of the pond.
August 13, 2017
A Common Yellowthroat is half-hidden by the foliage of an apple tree near the pond.
July 18, 2016
A little further on, where my trail goes past some ferns, I notice a brilliant butterfly that is probably an Eastern Comma. It could also be a Question Mark, another butterfly with irregular wing shapes and similar orange and black coloration. What, you think I’m kidding? You don’t know there are butterflies named after punctuation marks? Well, if you look at the underside of their hind wings, the comma has a mark that indeed looks like a comma, whereas the question mark has a mark that looks like – you can guess what it looks like! You think I made up these names? No way. These really are the official names, even in Latin: Polygonia comma and Polygonia interrogationis. If you recall any geometry, you surely remember that a “polygon” has many sides, an appropriate family name for butterflies with weirdly-shaped wings. And the species names could hardly be any easier to translate. With a good photo of the underside of its wings, I’ll be able to tell whether it is a comma or a question mark.
Eastern Comma. July 15, 2019
Eastern Comma. July 15, 2019
Unfortunately, both the comma and the question mark prefer resting with their wings outspread, making it very difficult to critique their punctuation. Eventually, it flies off, so I continue another 50 yards out to the Point. I sit down in my Adirondack chair, which provides a view across an opening in the cattails where dragonflies and damselflies cavort just above a spot where frogs love to sit still, waiting for a meal. Once in a while I have seen a frog leap suddenly and quickly enough to catch a damselfly, but usually the insects keep dancing around just out of reach. Today, a large green frog is sitting right in front of my chair, and a couple of bullfrogs rumble every couple of minutes from where they have squatted a little further away. Exploring the shoreline, I discover a half dozen small green frogs and three pickerel frogs. I have seen more than two dozen small frogs on other days, some in the water and others along my trail. One day I even came across a scene that reminded me of the song that Boy Scouts act out at campfires: “Five green speckled frogs, sitting on a speckled log, eating some nice, delicious bugs. Yum! Yum!” Five scouts sing the song perched on a log, pealing off one by one as the song continues “One jumped in the pool, where it is nice and cool, now there are four (then three, then two, then no) green speckled frogs.”
It’s close to five o’clock, too late in afternoon to expect more activity around the pond, so I head back via the Upper Meadow. The apple trees now have some small apples, some of the viburnum berries are turning red, the pasture roses are in full bloom, and my trails need mowing. Maybe tomorrow. Or maybe not. Maybe just another 80 minutes around the pond.
Five green speckled frogs sitting at the edge of the cattails.
August 1, 2017
A bullfrog sits on some moss at the tip of the Point.
July 16, 2018
