Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Odd Sights

As pond owners and mostly outdoors types, I'm sure everyone has seen some wierd things such as fish trying to eat another fish of enar the same size and so on. I thought people might like to hear of some of the odd things others have seen. For example, this summer my wife and I found a dead hawk floating in the pond. A closer looks showed that it had caught a 3.5 ft. snake by the head and the snake then wrapped itself around the hawks neck. Both were dead in the water, snake in talon and wrapped around the bird's neck. Wish I would have taken a picture.

This weekend I was hunting and saw an odd trio. First I saw a pair of coyotes, which is not really unusal. But when they rounded the corner, they were travelling with a badger, actually working together. The badger would go into the tall weeds to try to flush out rodents and the coyotes would stand back and wait for something to move. When they moved away, the all moved together. Wish I had my video camera there.
Anybody else see some strange things?

Last spring I came upon something very spooky and I have a picture to prove it.

I came across a robin that was hanging by it's neck off of my deck via fishing line. Apparently I had some sloppy anglers at one of my ponds the pervious fall that left some monofilament around. My hunch is the bird was using it as part of its nest (lots of nests under eaves of my log home), and the line got caught in the railing of my deck and around it's neck and the bird got strangled. It was also very windy just prior to finding this bird which may have contributed to the fishing line debacle.

I'm not really supersticious but the the sight of this robin hanging by it's neck off the deck gave me an erie feeling. Maybe I can get the wife to scan the picture and email it to those interested. However I won't post it on the net as I can see folks trying to tell me it was done on purpose. I can assure you it wasn't and there is no one around that would do it either.

This is a good reason not to leave fishing line laying around. It's really hard on wildlife.

The wierdest I ever saw was in Virginia where we had a large community lake. We heard what sounded like a baby crying and went to look. Going through the underbrush we found a cottonmouth that had caught a bullfrog between the legs from the rear with a leg coming out each side of his mouth but the squealing the frog was doing sounded just like a baby.

Last year I had a momma raccoon and her babies hanging around my feeder. Momma would tap, tap, tap on the feeder, then she would reach into the paddle wheel mechanism on the front of the feeder and remove the three or four pellets that would fall out. Each baby got one treat and then she would repeat the process. This went on for half an hour.

This spring my community was ravaged by an F-5 tornado with wind speeds in excess of 200 mph. Naturally I was devastated by the loss of my outbuildings and home. The following day, while surveying the damage I noticed that a hundred yards away from my pond some of my biggest bluegill had been "sucked up" by the tornado and deposited in my front yard.

Bob, I have seen that myself. I actually have pictures of a garter snake trying to eat a garden toad, but no screaming. I have pictures of that one, which made my wife mad because I disturbed the snake which "let go" read puked up, the toad. Later I heard that same scream you talk about from the pond, where a snake had latched on to the leg of a great big bullfrog. That critter was also "liberated", this time without the wife's knowledge.

Hey, I think LBuck has just solved the "how in the heck did bullhead get into my pond" question!

I will believe toronado moving fish but not fish or eggs sticking to bird's feet.

Bill,

I didn't believe that either until I toured a very large goldfish farm in southern Indiana and the operator who very knowledgable believes it indeed does happen albeit for short distances at a time. He has some specialty goldfish that are very unique and have shown up in recreations ponds in the area miles away. The goldfish production facility is frequented by wading birds but is secure from trespassers. He indicated he has no doubt that eggs may have been transported by lodging between the webbing of birds like herons as they fly (webbing folds together in the bird's flying position), and then deposited in a neighboring pond. He thinks over time these eggs are moved by "pond hiking" from pond to pond.

I see no reason to doubt this as a possibility as, as long as there is moisture in the webbing of fish eating birds eggs could survive for short periods of time.

Trout and Salmon eggs can be shipped "green" for 24 hours as long as they are moist but make no contact with water. Eyed eggs of trout and salmon are shipping on ice all the time.

It is sort of Hard for me to believe the ol Big Bird Foot stories as well....think its all just wives tales......

i actually saw a teenager say "yes sir" the other day, and ask me if i had any farm work for him to earn money. now that is a strange sight nowadays!

Thanks a lot for the voice of reason Cecil. I posted the results from state biologists about this on a previous post including the head fish biologist and fish vetrinarian employed by the state of wisconsin. Maybe in Texas or other parts of the south it is not likely this occurs but as we say in the car business up here, people down there drive 100 miles to go for ice cream. I literally have 5 ponds within 1/4 mile of mine and am less than a mile from lake michigan.

I would bet anyone on this board my last dollar that I could use a ordinary stick to collect fish eggs on and move it from any of my adjacent neighbors ponds to mine with some hatching taking place. I could walk it there with no problem. There is no way the eggs would dry out too much in the 30 seconds it takes a bird to jump a few hundred yards.

I respect Bill Cody's opinions but it has been 20 years since we have seen any tornados here and no one else enters my property.

If you put your stick into a pond and collect adhesive fish egg or eggs, then transport them to another pond say 30 to 45 seconds away, how will you get the adhesive eggs off the stick with out damaging the capsule (corion), blastodisk, or yolk?

Brian, as a test this summer why not try this fish egg&stick collection theory you have and come back and report your results. Collect some eggs on a stick and after transport, move them off the stick to a well aerated container or one where you do a daily water exchange and then await hatching? I would love to see and hear about this real life lab experiment.

From my limited knowledge of most fish eggs they are adhesive for a short period after ferilization. Then they water harden and stickiness becomes minimal. So Brian expect some difficulty in getting eggs to attach to your stick.

Bill,

From my understanding eggs are adhesive only part of the time depending on the species. I see where you are going with this but how do you know that in at least some instances the eggs are not attached to some debris or algae on the feet of the birds and comes back off when the feet of the bird are resubmerged into the next pond?

Hi Cecil - Most water birds that I am familiar with fold their feet up next to the body or usually into the feathers on take off. I am assuming this retraction of landing gear removes most of the trash on their feet? I am not a "birder" but I will ask one of my famous bird friends about this.

Ah,... it's nice when I have been away from posting for a while and I can count on coming back to certain topics that will never die. : )

On the oddest sight topic... dozens of frogs dropping from the sky onto the road etc. No doubt in relation to extreme weather events in the area. (Which except for snow, or lightning, we don't often have)

Is it possible that some of these 'travelling' fish come through underground water sources, underground streams etc.? I have a couple small 'leaks' near the top portion of my pond bank and have seen water and minnows pop up out of the ground from underwater channels some 40-50 feet from the pond when the water is high. (normally sticklebacks and mudminnows)

Had an unusual sight this year. Was walking my two labs along the shore of our frog pond when a red tailed hawk swooped down literally over my shoulder and grabbed a hen wood duck on the opposite side of the pond (no more than 40-feet away). The hen managed to get away and swim to the far side of the pond but the hawk sat right on the edge staring at us. I waved my arms and even tossed a few stones near the raptor but it sat still.

Wanting to preserve future days of bird hunting, I told the dogs to sit (nothing like a face full of talons) and walked around the pond and up to the hawk, who just lifted its wings as if to brace for a fight. I managed to get it to perch on a stick but he hopped down the stick to my hand and rather than having a very large bird attach itself to my flesh I let go of the stick.

I decided that a picture would be nice so I went up to the house to get a camera and a glove but he was gone when I returned with my baseball mit (all I could find). At the time I thought the woody was molting because she couldn't fly but she never recovered and has managed to survive all year and is still out there. The hawk has stalked that duck all year with no luck, and I sometimes see him sitting on the shore while the duck swims 10-15 feet away taunting him.

I'm an avid duck hunter but can't bring myself to shoot that duck after watching her survive all year in the environment that we created. I'm still trying to figure out what to do with her before the water gets hard. Watching the critters makes the pond experience worthwhile for me.

Still can't figure out why the red tail sat on the shore. From what I could tell, he didn't get wet and wasn't injured. Kind of makes me want to try falconry but really don't need any more hobbies.

That story reminded me of a most recent oddity... my girlfriend and I were fishing the pond when I felt something swoop down near my head... then it happened again only this time it tried a landing and ended up in a tree beside me. It was a homing pigeon... shortly thereafter it decided it wanted nothing better then to perch on my shoulder or that of my girlfriend ANY time we went outside. At first this seemed like the greatest thing ever and quite a treat... but got old VERY quickly. For over a week it camped out on my deck as I tried to locate it's owner through various local clubs... of course the day I finally find out who he belonged to it disappeared. Whether it got tired of the 'rations' we were providing or found itself in the jaws of any number of local predators is hard to know.

Recently I caught a wild ruffled grouse. I wrote a story which is a rather long post.
The short of it is I coaxed the grouse close enough to catch with my gloved hands. I guess you could say I talked it in.
The funny part is it was on my buddy's property (Larry Hand) past tight end for the Detroit Lyons, anyway he was hunting in the same area last week & the grouse came up to him. He went back the next day & the grouse walked up a deadfall to him in his deer stand close enough he could rub it's breast!
The sad part is I was planning on grouse hunting there after deer season. Now Larry is afraid I might shoot the pet grouse! :-)

Bill,

Herons don't retract their legs into their feathers. If I remember right they hang them below their bodies like a wasp.

My wife had a crappie jump out of the water, hit her in the nose and drop into her lap while she was kayaking across our pond.

Cecil,
The Great Blue Heron around here holds it's legs straight back kind of like it's dragging them behind them when it flys.

NEDOC,
Many a night frog gigging in my white fiberglass canoe small bream, bass & crappie would jump in the boat! Esp. in shallow water.

Cecil and Ric - Yes as I recall the wading birds hold their legs-feet out stretched behind when they fly. Now all we have to do is find someone who was sober, of sound mind and has seen stuff hanging off their feet as they fly.

Bill,

You're a hard man to convince! You wouldn't be a scientist if you were gullible. :p

Well lads, next time I politely help a Heron find it's way out of my pond I'll have a look at it's feet. : )