Tis the season for fish to spawn and there has been a whole lot of jumping going on in my backyard pond. I spotted some small bass by the water’s edge so I thought it was a good time to republish my lost article telling the tale of how I first discovered this species in my wildlife garden.
Dateline: May 10, 2013 *
Just when I think my home wildlife experiences can’t get any better, THEY DO!!!!
What a week it was with the pond. Four new entries on my wildlife life list. Okay, aside from my Audubon checklist booklet, I don’t have a formal list that I write on. I pretty much keep track via my blog posts and a notepad file where I put all the common and scientific names of the fauna and native plants before I transfer them into an actual post.
I spotted the slow flight of a damselfly that had black wings. I immediately thought it was a Jewelwing. I checked pictures on bugguide.net and was pretty satisfied that I had a good I.D., but something was nagging at me about the blue coloring being limited to the very end of the abdomen, whereas those in other photos seemed to have mostly blue abdomens.
The next day I was walking around the pond again and this time, the damselfly landed on my SOCK! I truly have become one with nature. 🙂 I snapped a few shots before it flew away when I turned my foot to get better lighting.
I wandered further around the end of the pond when I saw a dragonfly with a hint of bright yellow gold. It landed in the margin of the pond so I crawled down the bank and got a few shots. When compared to bug guide entries, this one turns out to be an Ornate Pennant** (Celithemis ornata). And, while trying to locate an ID for this dragonfly, I ran across one of the Florida insects sites and there, in full color was a picture of my DAMSELfly…not a Jewelwing, but a Black Dancer Damselfly (Argia fumipennis atra). Funny how things work out.
I noticed some water movement while I was busy photographing the odonata and I turned to see some larger fish doing “the dance”. I automatically figured they were Bluegills, a fish that lives toward the bottom of the pond. They come out to the edges during breeding season to lay eggs.
I thought I’d take a photo of this year’s fish as one turned on its side. I was perplexed because the shape was wrong for a bluegill. I zeroed the camera in to get some photos, desperately hoping that the sun glare wouldn’t prevent a photo for identification. About 20 shots and I was lucky enough to get two where you could clearly see the fish. I went to my favorite fish I.D. site, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) and started scrolling through the various photos in the “freshwater fish” section.
They looked a little like bass to me, but nothing seemed to match up exactly. I went and used a search engine for photographs but still didn’t turn up a match. My next step was to fill out the form at the “Ask FWC” section. It’s a great website that allows you to send a photo along. I’ve used them in the past when I had mosquito fish that were an odd color.
Merely a day after submission, a response came back:
“I had our fish biologist look at your great pictures and he says that those are Largemouth Bass. He says that they can vary in color/ markings it’s just according to the type of water that they are in. Yes, they are a native fish. The NE Regional Customer Service.”
WOO HOO! Native and EDIBLE. I’m headed to the Pro Shop to get me a troller and plan the tournament! Get the cornmeal and cast iron pan and stoke that fire.
So, how did the fish come to live in my pond? I didn’t add them but then again, I didn’t put the bluegills in there either. Spontaneous Generation?
Although there is a lot of debate about whether or not birds transport fish to interior ponds, I want to believe it is true. Most say either fish who appear in unstocked lakes swam from upstream…not a possibility since my pond isn’t attached to any streams…or arrived there by means of flood. Flood is a possibility as I remember my neighbors a couple of lots down saying that several years back they caught bass locally and put them in their pond. Perhaps they did “swim” over the couple of acres…portions of the property between us does become inundated during rainy season, so anything is possible. The culvert water also can rise up meeting the pond during rainy season, so fish would have a possible avenue to get back to the pond, but it still seems an enormous task. I still want to go with some birds bringing in fish eggs on their legs, although their remembering to bring both a boy and a girl fish may be a stretch. 😀
Next on the list of newbies is an aquatic turtle. I’ve had box turtles for years, but always was disappointed that no turtles ever took up residence in my rather large pond. To me it looks so inviting.
Years back, I had one soft-shell turtle that the dogs scoped out walking in the front yard, but that one was looking for a way out. I obliged and opened the gate for him (her?). I’m sure it’s no fun being an only turtle. In the wildlife kingdom love is always in the air.
So, my new turtle is a young Peninsula Cooter (Pseudemys peninsularis) Synonym/s: Pseudemys floridana subspecies peninsularis. (S)he was positioned on the tussock catching the rays. There are several species of cooters in Florida and I received a positive identification* from some Master Naturalist gurus. Luckily, I captured enough detail through the zoom shot. Identification of turtles is easier if you can see their belly. Despite my commands, this cooter refused to roll over.
With all my newfound residents, I’m sure the wading bird population will increase. I mean, who wouldn’t want to chow down on those nice plump bass?
*This is an update of a tale was originally published by Loret T. Setters on May 10, 2013 at the defunct national blog
beautifulwildlifegarden[dot]com. Click the date to view reader comments.
**In the original 2013 post the dragonfly was misidentified as Amanda’s Pennant.
This species behaves a little differently than a lot of odonata. I often see them far away from the water, landing on grasses in the meadow. This year they are in record numbers at my place. I sometimes see 3, 4 and 5 at a time often just before dusk. Considering that they are about an inch or less long, it is pretty amazing that I can see them at all.
Tales of a Central Florida Wildlife Garden 