Pond in the foothills

[CountryEscape]

I wonder about the colder water, too, JW. I figured if it doesn't freeze, the fish are fine, but others say by running my waterfall, it's cooling the water more than necessary. I have waterfall, 12" water spout shooting up in the air, and skimmer going in koi pond. Stream and bog are running in the goldfish pond. No air or water bubbler running in either won't turn those on until temps get colder and threat of ice is imminent. For now, I'll keep it all running as I did last year. Stream never was shut off, ran all winter. I think with it on the ground, and not much above the water level, it's not cooling it as much as the waterfall would do. We shall see ....

 

[j.w]

I shall see also and think it will be just fine. Only I will turn off the big aerator as don't need that on right now anyways.

 

[MitchM]

I went down to our natural pond and downloaded a couple of pictures from the trailcam that I set up near the carcass that some hunters dumped in our ditch.

I'll post a WARNING that these pictures may be too graphic for some people.

Here are some Ravens and Black billed magpies feeding away:



and a really interesting animal that I have never seen before, an American Marten ( Martes americana )
(just to the upper right of the carcass)




I've reset the trailcam so that it takes more frequent pictures, instead of one every 30 seconds after a delay of 5 seconds. I think it's missed a couple of animals.
We have some warmer weather coming for the next week, so there may be some more activity there. With our recent cold snap, the carcass was buried under snow and frozen solid.

 

[MitchM]

Here's a picture with the marten cropped out.

 

[j.w]

I sure enjoy seeing these pix from you trail cam Mitch! Glad all the critters can make use of the meat the hunters left behind too.

 

[MitchM]

Me too! I've never had a trailcam before.
I looked up the American, or Pine marten and apparently it mainly lives in the trees. It can go for miles before touching the ground.
Among its' prey are squirrels, which there are plenty of around here.

 

[addy1]

Really neat! Keep posting all those critter shots

 

[callingcolleen1]

Out there I am sure no meat goes to waste, every day something has to die so others may survive!

Little tiny breather holes for such a big pond, that would not work for my big fish, been using the 1250 watt pond deicer this year. So far it is keeping large holes open. If it gets to below minus 20 c for too Long then I will switch back to 1500 watt.

 

[MitchM]

The breather is continuously pumping water from 3 feet below into the tube above the ice and provides the same gas exchange as if there was no ice cover at all.

 

[waynefrcan]

I hope you're correct Mitch, 2 should get the job done but barely.

 

[MitchM]

Depends on what "the job" is that needs to be done. A half dozen 6" goldfish in a big, relatively new 2 year old pond shouldn't have a lot of need for powerful aeration.
Unfortunately getting an O2 reading is impossible with the ice cover.
I'm a little concerned that the bottom water temperature is still above 40 degrees.
Of course I won't know for sure until next March - April.

When you had it, Wayne, it didn't work because it froze, or because fish died from suffocation or buildup of bad gas?

 

[MitchM]

Nice sunset down the driveway tonight.
Warm today too. Got up to 8C/47F

 

[j.w]

That is really pretty Mitch and boy does it look like you live wayyyyyyyyyyyyy out in the sticks like a mountain man!

 

[MitchM]

I don't know about the mountain man part, lol, but we are out of town a bit. Scenery like that and the peace and quiet really makes it worth it.

 

[CountryEscape]

Your sunset pic is gorgeous. Thanks for sharing all the critter pics, too. My son got a doe this past weekend, first shotgun weekend in IL. He's only got 2 more days, out of the coming two weekends of hunting, one weekend is 4 days, another 3 days, but he has to work. Oh well, hopefully he will see lots more deer, and get his Mama a nice doe, too! He always leaves the gut piles for the coyotes, fox, and anything else that is looking for fresh meat. The scavengers eat very well this time of year in IL.