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This is actually true.

Working for Greg Lafont had a big rain Tuesday morning still draining water Thursday at noon.
Behind the new dam my son and I saw lots of small fish trying to swim back into the main body of the lake. Now there is a 99% chance that the fish washed down and are just trying to get home.

But they were in the middle of a field and could have come from down stream. There was not a bird in sight.

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Well, I'm not sure what to tell my co-workers now other than give them the link to here and have them read all--so many theories. But for the most part, I believe most of us believe that it could happen given the right circumstances even though a long shot. Of course, I still have one at work that absolutely says "No, never happen in a million years". \:\)




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Wasn't it Mother Nature that coined the phrase "Build a pond, and they will come!"

Maybe we need to dig deeper into the IQ of a bird. (lol, there is one out-thinking Cecil right now) \:D

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 Originally Posted By: MarkECIN
never happen in a million years


And therein lies the sticking point.

If we're talking 1 year, no, ponds will probably not stock themselves. If we're talking 10 years, they probably will.

Are birds smart enough to stock ponds? No, but that's not the question. The question is, can birds, turtles, etc. incidentally transport fish or fish eggs into a pond. Given enough time, the answer is yes.

It's amusing that people scoff at birds "intentionally" stocking ponds, yet they doubtless marvel at their ability to migrate 8000 miles unerringly. Since I've never observed, or seen reliable documentation of that behavior, I don't know if it's real or not. I do know that fish and birds are known to exhibit far more complex behavior than "self-stocking"!

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bobad, I don't know if you watched the video that I linked to earlier in this thread. It shows what seems to be very complex bird behavior. Here it is again: http://youtube.com/watch?v=BGPGknpq3e0

There are ants that cut up leaves and take them into their colonies as a substrate for growing fungus for food. If ants can evolve to harvest materials for, and tend to a future crop, then I can't see why birds couldn't have evolved to stock empty ponds.

ANT ARTICLE-LEAFCUTTERS



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bobad, I think we all agree that birds can incidentally transport fish to a pond.

The jury is out on the egg transporting.


Excerpt from Robert Crais' "The Monkey's Raincoat:"
"She took another microscopic bite of her sandwich, then pushed it away. Maybe she absorbed nutrients from her surroundings."

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That bird in the video isn't accidentally dropping that nut on the road, but it gets instant gratification, so that might not count as planning ahead like intentional stocking. But, aren't cowbirds known for laying their eggs in other birds nests...their young hatch first, and toss out all the other eggs. I wonder how that species knows that, or, are all cowbird orphans incidental? I also saw a "smart" hawk while I was cutting the field Thursday...as I cut the borders, he flew in and watched hoping I would flush out a field mouse...either that, or he wanted a turn on the tractor \:\)

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I found two fish in the ditch I made for the trash pump hose to lay in, they made it through the pump!

The pond has only had water in it for ~6 months.

I guess it's possible the neighborhood kids put these in, but they are quite small... I would have expected them to put in bigger fish.

Check the thread here:

Fish appearing

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Eastland, leaf cutter ants drag pieces of leaves into underground chambers to be used for growing food for the colony. The Ants aren't getting instant gratification. If an ant can perform such a complex chain of events to produce food then why not a bird?



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ET, I can believe they made it, especially since a man made it thru this, same concept...avoid the blades \:\)

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6602000191346967728

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I'm brand new to this forum. This happened to be the first thread I read so here's my 2 cents worth.

I needed a couple hundred yards of dirt so dug a borrow pit in 2005. Drained it down to less than a foot and doubled its size in late 2007. It is now about 1/3 of an acre and about 10 feet deep.

No fish were ever introduced into it until this spring. It is filled with runoff from 30 acres of farm land and the overflow is never under water in the ditch it drains to (which is dry except after rains).

Just before I went to buy some blue gill and channel cat to stock it, I found over 300 hundred blue gill 1-4" in size schooling and sunning themselves.

I'm not going to speculate how they got there but there they were. As best I can tell, blue gill is all that showed up on their own.

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So far, according to this string, I blame Scientologist, Alien Overlords, Birds, Brother-in Laws, Flooding, swimming upstream, and pretty much everything except intelligent tornadoes. One of life's great mysteries.


Do not tell fish stories where the people know you; but particularly, don't tell them where they know the fish. Mark Twain
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WileyC, welcome to Pond Boss!

Was there any chance of kids throwing some bluegill into your borrow pit?


Excerpt from Robert Crais' "The Monkey's Raincoat:"
"She took another microscopic bite of her sandwich, then pushed it away. Maybe she absorbed nutrients from her surroundings."

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Hi Sunil. Nope, no chance. We are surrounded by farm land on 3 sides and 1,000 feet from the road on the other. Nobody ever comes wandering around bearing fishies. They just "magically" appeared.

I need to net some and get them identified. I think they are blue gill but they act wierd. They tend to school and just sit in various spots a few inches below the surface, dive when disturbed by movement and then float back up as a group. The largest school I've seen was about 3" in diameter and had around 100 fish (best guess). Most are sort of rusty brown colored (so is the water), some with visible vertical striping and now that they are growing some, a black dot is visible by their gills. They do look different than the 100 blue gill (not hybrids) I bought to stock the pond with. Waiting till this fall to add the bass as the suppliers bass are fairly large.

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Just a theory mind you...



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That explains it, sullpond! Great pic!

I did fail to mention that the pond was quickly inhabited by three large snapping turtles and a couple green backs that came from neighboring lakes. The closest one is about 500' away (downhill). I suspected they were the source of the eggs but who knows.



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Is it just me or does it always seem the mystery fish are gsf, mudcat or shiners.

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 Originally Posted By: calvin tynes
Is it just me or does it always seem the mystery fish are gsf, mudcat or shiners.

Or Gambusia around here. With them it's not if they'll show up, it's when.



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 Originally Posted By: calvin tynes
Is it just me or does it always seem the mystery fish are gsf, mudcat or shiners.



Muhaaa, Muhaaaaaaaa, Muhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa




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How can I join the GREEN SUN FISH ASSOCIATION? It looks like fun.

OTTO

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Otto, the GSFA is a little highbrow if you know what I mean. If you qualify you ought to consider a membership in the WTF (Warmouth Technology Foundation).



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One also must choose between the Brothers in Smallmouth Association (BISA) and Smallmouth's Our Bass (SOB).


"Live like you'll die tomorrow, but manage your grass like you'll live forever."
-S. M. Stirling
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 Originally Posted By: otto
How can I join the GREEN SUN FISH ASSOCIATION? It looks like fun. OTTO


Otto,

We would be proud to have such an esteemed member such as yourself amoungst our ranks.

In honor for all you have done for pondom everywhere, providing new habitat for the mighty GSF, I have added you to our membership roster.

Unlike those other poser organizations the GSA actively protects and preserves the Sunfish that we so lovingly adore. And we don't require ANY membership dues. We are 100% supported via extortion, misappropriation, black mail and other time honored fund raising activities.

Your secret handshake instructional DVD and decoder ring will arrive shortly.

Take that poser organizations!!!!




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Sounds to me like GSF eggs might have some adhesive properties that make the odds of inadvertant transportation much more likely.

http://www.nanfa.org/articles/acgreen.shtml

 Quote:
They had spawned overnight, and the male was protecting the eggs. The fertilized eggs were adhesive, perfectly round, colorless, and approximately 1/16" in diameter.





Now we know how the GSF Association really recruits new membership.






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Great find Shorty. That is the first article that I have ever seen related to raising GSF.


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...Hedley Lamarr (that's Hedley not Hedy)
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