Black Crappie

another type of sunfish

this regular, young fisherman has caught a number of the fish pictured in this blog

Whirligig beetle

Took these pictures almost a year ago. There were many dozens of them stirring the water together.

crayfish

I started to try to identify what type of crayfish I have pictured, but when I realized there are 150 species of crayfish in North America, I gave up rather quickly. Maybe when I get some more detailed pictures, I'll attempt the identification process again.

taking cover among rock and snails

 

Green Sunfish

this one appears to be a cross between a Bluegill and a Green Sunfish. It looked stuck in some shallow, receding water on the lake edge so I stepped in and picked it up with my hands, took some pictures, and put it back in deeper water. 

 

channel cat

also known as a catfish

scent mound

one of our regular fishermen pointed these out to me and explained their purpose.

Beaver create a pile of mud and grass/sticks/leaves and deposit a castor smelling secretion on the pile to mark their territory. The smell is rather distinctive.

Pumpkinseed sunfish

7-8 inch Pumpkinseed

Perch

an approximately 6 inch perch caught in mid-June

Columbine

 

baby oak

...I think. While planting flowers, I found this guy growing among roots of another tree and in shallow ground on top of a large rock. I decided to uproot it and put it in a planter until I figure out to where it should be relocated.

the acorn from which it was born

opening day rescue

run off stream

with the season unofficially at its mid-point, I need to get up some pictures from earlier this year. On our first day open to the public, I had a little adventure in rescuing a large-mouth bass. Because of a whole lot of rain, water ran profusely over the spill-way. Apparently, some fish got carried over in the flow into a small stream that is definitely not conducive to long-term survival for such fish.

spillway

 A couple of our regular fisherman had spotted this bass and tried to fish it out of the stream, but it wouldn't bite. So I put on my boots, grabbed my net, and went walking through the stream until the bass was found trying to hide amongst some sticks. After a couple pictures, I put the roughly 19 inch bass back into the more accommodating lake environment.

                                                                                                

Large-mouth Bass

Black-winged Damselfly

While wandering through the woods, I came to this shallow-stream area in which these damselflies were numerous. I don’t believe I had previously seen this variety, at least not at the lake.

 

 



  The field guide indicates their bodies as being metallic green, but depending on how the light hits them, they can appear to be metallic blue.

I was lucky enough to see a couple females as well. The female Black-winged Damselfly does not have a metallic color body and has a white dot on her wings.

lakeside buttercups

transplant

A friend of mine is moving out of state and was sure a Japanese Maple planted a couple years ago by her husband would be cut down by the new homeowners because of its inconvenient location. I expressed an interest in some of the seedlings that sprouted up around a more mature Japanese Maple elsewhere in their yard and she suggested I give the couple year old one a new home. I was happy to do so and had a perfect spot of land in mind where there is a seriously lack of arbor adornment.

ready to move

loaded up

new home

lake view

I imagine there are only so many ways to look at the same, relatively small, body of water. However, I do not seem to tire of the view and nature has an infinite combination of variables to give each look a new appearance.

hammock time

I had a productive Memorial Day - 

my hammock is up and ready for use.

My view from the hammock.

young poplar

Given the habitual lean this tree was accustomed to, I decided to stake it. Not sure what type of poplar it is though.

Season's first Sunday boat ride

There is just something about relaxing on the water, in the sunshine, listening to birds and the buzz of passing dragonflies that leaves me with a smile.