Creating a Lake

[EddieWalker]

Dozernut,

No, that's not it. I didn't realize there'd be any interest in it, so I didn't take a picture. I'll take on of it and post it so maybe somebody can identify it.

Thanks,
Eddie

 

[weldingisfun]

Bird,

I don't know my frogs very well, but they are not bullfrogs. They are very smooth and dark green. The biggest we've seen is about the size in the picture.

Eddie

Eddie, it looks like a leopard frog. They range in color from a greenish brown to a deep olive green. They are really fun to watch. Before you know it you will have thousands, at least until you have fish large enough to start eating the tadpoles.

 

[patrick_g]

The leopard frog is so named because of the prominent spots irrespective of the primary shade of green or brown of the skin.

The Dragon flies will eat mosquitoes and other flying insects but are harmless to people so they are on the GOOD GUYS list. They are proficient maneuverable aerial combatants.

It is interesting to note that dragon flies eat more mosquitoes than the FAMED purple martin which eats FEW or NO mosquitoes. A university study with video cameras set up focused on martin apartment houses found that a favorite food of purple martins is dragon flies and during the study no mosquitoes were seen in their beaks while carying food to their broods. The report stated it was unlikely that the birds ate one diet and provided an entirely diffeerent diet for the young so they concluded that at least in some instances the mosquito eating prowess of the purple martin is advertising hype for follks selling purple martin houses. So instead of decreasing mosquito populations they eat the insect that would decrease the mosquito population.

I have heard (but of course would never personally confirm) that the instinct to intercept small high speed targets causes the dragon fly to dart in front of a BB shot in their direction and be hit making it appear that the shooter is a real marksman capable of hitting a dragon fly on the wing.

I can still recall catching tadpoles and putting one in a fish bowl. When We came back from a vacation it was gone. Months later I found the dried and shriveled frog under a trunk in the next room.

Pat

 

[Cliff_Johns]

Dragon flies eat skeeters and other flying little bugs. They are good bugs to have, and pretty too.

Cliff

 

[patrick_g]

Cliff, Thanks for translating my post (immediately preceding yours) into "SIMPLE ENGLISH" in the Readers Digest condensation tradition. What do you think, maybe I could send my posts to you for editing and condensing prior to publishing?

Pat

 

[Cliff_Johns]

Cliff, Thanks for translating my post (immediately preceding yours) into "SIMPLE ENGLISH" in the Readers Digest condensation tradition. What do you think, maybe I could send my posts to you for editing and condensing prior to publishing?

Pat

Sorry patrick,
I started typing, was asked a few questions by a coworker, and then finished and you posted while I was doing my post. I didn't see your post before I posted mine. Again, my appoligies.

Cliff

 

[3RRL]

Eddie,
Your marvelous thread is fast becoming a legend. You should turn it into a novel. All the posts and pictures from yourself and everybody are great and have added immensely to making it so interesting. I check in everyday to see what's new.

About leeches, I hate them as much as snakes (like you do). I can remember when I was a little kid in Holland. We used to wade in the streams and come out with leeches attached to our ankles and calves! That just freaked me out and ever since then, I can't stand them. I saw a naturalist program on the Discovery channel where a girl naturalist was doing research in some rain forest and she had one up her nose! Anybody else see that one?

 

[BTDT]

Eddie, looks like you have a jumpstart on your mosquito problem. Frogs, minnows, dragonflies, etc. Something else you might consider if you have electricity down close to the water, is hang a bug zapper out off of a dock. As it kills/stuns bugs they fall into the water and the fish eat'em up.

 

[sr160009]

It is amazing how many new criters just show up after a new pond (or Lake) is built.

 

[patrick_g]

Sorry patrick,
I started typing, was asked a few questions by a coworker, and then finished and you posted while I was doing my post. I didn't see your post before I posted mine. Again, my appoligies.

Cliff

Cliff, no apology please! This happens all the time. I was trying to be funny. Sorry if you didn't want to be a straight man.

Pat