Neighborhood Pond – November 2020 – part 1
/I walked down to the neighborhood stormwater pond recently. There were still a few leaves that had not been swept away by the wind (or mowing or raking). I walked through drifts of leaves in the street gutter and sidewalks…crunching.
I was early enough that the light was good for reflections on the pond. There was no breeze, so the water was a good mirror.
There was a red-winged blackbird in the cattails. It moved around a bit….called to others that had moved to nearby trees as I had walked up to the pond. I sat on the bench for a few minutes, but the other birds stayed away from the immediate pond vegetation.
The sun sometimes made a spotlight on the vegetation…bringing out the nuances of fading fall colors.
The meadow on the far side of the pond has not been mowed and looks like it is being taken over by invasive pear trees. They’ll probably mow it again in the spring.
All the flowers around the pond have gone to seed.
As I started back, I noticed a tree with 3 squirrels’ nests! There were other similarly sized trees near it…but somehow the squirrels found this one more attractive.
A dogwood still held its colorful leaves. The native dogwoods usually have leaves that turn early and drop; this one is probably a non-native and I didn’t notice any seeds.
Most of the oaks in the neighborhood have lost their leaves completely. Maybe they have just reached the age that they don’t hold their leaves longer. Ours was one of the early droppers this year.
I checked the micro-clover that we planted in some bare spots a few months ago. It is still growing very well everywhere we planted it. Hopefully, it will help the soil improve so we won’t have any bare places next spring.
Tomorrow I will post about the high point of the walk to and from the pond.
Unique Activities for Yesterday:
Crane Fiesta 2020. The virtual version of Festival of the Cranes from Bosque del Apache is called Crane Fiesta and is happening November 19-21. It is being delivered as cost-free webinars….but registration is required. The link to register is https://friendsofbosquedelapache.org/festival-of-the-cranes/. My husband and I are looking forward to the three days of virtual birding….the next best thing to being there (and looking forward to going back to New Mexico in November2021)!
