Joe's Pond Wildlife Report

 It doesn't seem fair that the summer is nearly over. I appreciate the cooler days, but the changes in temperature are sometimes hard to figure out. I have a couple of things I wanted to share this evening. First, yesterday Henretta Splain contacted me that she saw a a black Patagonia sweat jacket on the ground by the tennis courts when she went for a walk. If you haven't already figured out that your jacket is missing and where you left it, this will help.

Also, my friends across the road, John and Liz Randall, sent these photos. Liz apologized that they are fuzzy, but at least she got the pictures, which is way better than I did. She has seen the bobcat - we are thinking it is probably the same one that visited me a couple of weeks ago and I couldn't get a picture. It has been around their place a few times this summer. Also, this weekend they saw a mother bear with two cubs. Liz got a picture of one of them - I am not sure if it's mama bear or one of the babies, but I wanted to let people know that bear is in the area. Walkers should be aware and be very careful. It is never good to get too close to a mama bear, and especially don't get anywhere near her cubs. When you are walking, be sure you make noise - whistle or sing or talk to yourself - anything that will let an animal know you are there. They will avoid you if possible. You do not want to surprise a bear - especially one with cubs in tow.

My lawn mower, Bob Mckay, has been telling me all summer about bear signs he's seen as he's mowing my lawn. He's a hunter and I trust that he knows the signs; it could be this bear - or some other one. I haven't happened to see one. Other than a tipped over hummingbird feeder earlier in the summer, I don't suspect I've had a visit.

There was a large flock of wild turkeys in the big field beyond me last week when I went by one day. I usually see them here around my apple trees, but I've only seen one or two all summer. They may be around more in the fall - it gets harder for them to find food after things begin to die down.

I have been trying to figure out how the infestation of milfoil could have happened here, and why it is on the upper west shore. To me, it would seem more logical for it to be around the access area. I thought that the recent repeated flooding might have something to do with it - having an overflow from some contaminated body of water north of Joe's Pond wash down and get lodged on that shore, but so far I haven't found any indication that any lake or pond even remotely connected to Joe's has milfoil. We will probably never know how it got here, but I do feel sorry for the people with cottages along that shore. They need to be very careful not to spread it, and should probably limit the use of their boats and other activities, at least temporarily. I read that one way to kill milfoil is to drain the water so it is exposed and dries out - and cold weather will finish it off. There is no possibility of that happening here, I expect, even though not too many years ago, that is just what would happen after Labor Day. 

Enjoy our damp evening and the cooler weather ahead. Be safe and happy.