Creating a Lake

[weldingisfun]

Eddie, the answer to your mystery plant's identity will come soon enough,,,, when it blossoms. All you need to do is keep the deer or pigs from eating the bud.
Be patient my friend. You have already demonstrated that patience is one of your strengths. Hang in there a little longer and Mother Nature will give you your answer.

 

[pat32rf]

Been away from the site for a while but your saga is better than any library book!
About 9 yrs ago we bought property bordering on a small (20acre) weedy lake. Biggest fish were about 4" long. The leeches were 5". After a few years we stocked bass which did great for 3-4yrs. First thing I noticed was that all the leeches had dissapeared. By now some of the bass were 18" long. Then we had a long winter with lotsa snow. Come ice out we had lotsa dead bass as well. Its 4years later and still no bass have showed up but the leeches are back. Our winterkill seems to knock off any fish over 4-5" which would include yearling bass. I have come up with a plan that the MNR will approve of to get rid of some of the dead vegatation this summer if my neighbour will agree, then its more bass time...
Keep the news coming Eddie!!!

 

[EddieWalker]

Jim,

I did a seach on Gladiola plants and can see that you could be right. I wont know for sure until it blooms, but it is interesting how it got there!!!

Weldingisfun,

I agree, in time we'll see what it is and I'll post some pictures. Patience is one thing that I have allot of. LOL

Pat,

I'm wondering if water depth has allot to play in your vegitation issues, and the leech population? I might have avoided this with my steep shoreline and water depth. Overall, I'm 5 to 8 feet deep with an area over an acre that's 12 feet deep. Just at waters edge is the water shallow, but it drops off quickly.

Eddie

 

[EddieWalker]

Steph and I went down to the lake to try and get some pictures of the Little Blue Heron. She was as shocked as I was that we had mistook the juvinile Great Blue Heron as another species. Now that we've figured it out, we want some good pics of the Little Blue Heron.

As soon as we got there, I spoted a pair of wood ducks right at the shoreline. They were closer then any wood ducks that we've ever seen, and just swimming around in circles. She was able to get a coupel pics before they took off. The one picture of them taking off is very cool!!!!

The while smiling about the close encounter, we heard more wood ducks calling. Thier call is extremly spooky and unlike any other bird. While watching those two fly by, two others landed in the middle of the lake. They swam to a log that's sticking out and climbed up onto it. She got a few pictures of them that are farther out and a little blury.

She's kicking herself for leaving the tripod behind!!!!

After they flew off, we walked around the lake and enjoyed the scenery. Half way around, I spotted a shore bird. From a distance, I thought it looked like a Plover. We've never identified any shorebirds here, so that was the first. She took a few pictures of it, but again, without the tripod, they came out a little fuzzy.

We've tried and tried to identify it, but can't figure it out. We're not sure if the lighting is playing tricks with the photo, or if it's just imature and we don't recognize the markings. The beak looks yellow with a black tip. It's legs look yellow. It's belly is white, but the top part of it's body is light brown or grey with a darker line along it's side. That might be the wings that are darker, we're not sure. It has a short tail. There is a white front on it's throat and side of it's face, but the top of it's head is the same light brown or grey.

We've come close with pics of Plovers, Sanderlings and Sandpipers. I'm pretty sure it's one of these, but have no idea which.

Any thoughts?

Eddie

 

[Fug1000]

Eddie,
I too have taken a week or two and read this entire thread. Good lord what great info, pictures and people!! This one thread could be an entire website unto itself!

I have a question(s). Will your water always look brown? Can you one day look forward to clear blue water? Will the shorelines that eventually turn green help this process along? If you don't mind, please explain the process of "greening" your shore and "clearing" the water of your lake for those (like me) that are thinking about doing this one day.

 

[Dozernut]

The unknown bird could be a Lesser yellowlegs Sandpiper, here is a site and picture. Lesser Yellowlegs

 

[jinman]

Eddie, I think you have a Kildeer Plover there. Kildeer are very interesting birds in that they feign being hurt to draw off predators from their nests. They are common around lakes and ponds. They nest on the ground. As kids we called them "Killdees."

Here's a link to Audubon.
Kildeer

Here's another link with a picture.
Kildee Photo

 

[patrick_g]

Will your water always look brown? Can you one day look forward to clear blue water?

MAYBE!

I have 10 ponds on my place and some have always been clear and some have always been muddy. Some are along a pair of seasonal creeks. First in the series (on one creek)is clear then there are two that stay muddy and the last in the series stays clear. The three on the other creek feed into the same fourth pond as the other creek but all the ponds on the second described chain stay clear. During significant overflow events muddy water flows (BIGTIME) into the last pond in the chain and muddies it significantly but in a few days it clears up.

I have other ponds scattered over the property but not in series with each other. Some of them stay clear and some are always muddy. It is a big mystery to me what the differences are that cause some to be muddy all the time and others to clear up relatively quickly even after getting a large influx of very muddy water.

Even more important, of course, than why some stay muddy would be what if anything could be done to clear them up. I've read about rye straw, alum, and other treatments including electrically charged plates underwater like the electrostatic air cleaners but nothing that has me ready to try it.

The pond that Eddie builit may take years to clear, if it does. I only built two of the 10 ponds on my place. One is always clear and the other always muddy. I'd love to be able to clear them up at a decent cost and effort level.

Pat

 

[coopers]

Well that shorebird is not a killdeer. It's a little blurry but it could be a lesser yellowlegs or a greater yellowlegs. It's hard to tell from that picture. Both birds are identical in plumage, their calls and size are different.

Here's a link to show pics of what I'm talking about. The top is the greater yellowlegs and the bottom the lesser.

http://www.birdperch.com/images/Greater_Yellowlegs-03.jpg
Yahoo! Image Detail for www.birdperch.com/images/Greater_Yellowlegs-03.jpg

Blake
WA

 

[have_blue]

Eddie,

Your mystery frog appears to be a young bullfrog.

The frog you labeled as a leopard frog appears to be a spring peeper. If it has an "X" on its back, it's definitely a spring peeper.

The plant appears to be an iris, but as someone already pointed out, the proof is in the bloom.