My wife was looking out the window the other day. It was a misty morning, and a light fog hung over the pond. In one of the faint openings along the shore she saw some movement. It was a bobcat, sneaking along, looking for some breakfast.
I’ve seen a few bobcats over the years, but never one that close to civilization. They usually hunt up in the pines and swamps for rabbits or other small animals.
One afternoon during deer season I was sitting in a tree stand on the edge of a bedding area. Before long I saw some movement off to my right. A bobcat was coming down a deer trail right at me. I never moved as it got closer. When the cat was directly below me, I spoke. “Hey, you’re scaring the deer.” That bobcat nearly flipped over backwards as it changed directions and ran away. Since then I’ve seen them only a few of times.
But that bobcat is not the only animal that hunts around the pond. We had two pairs of geese and a pair of merganser ducks nesting on the pond this year. One morning we saw a red fox sneaking through the grass not far from the water. A few days later the geese and the adult ducks were gone. I figured the fox found the nests and either ate the newly hatched babies or maybe even the eggs.
We have another regular visitor at the pond. About once a week I see a bald eagle circling above the pond. It soon dives down near the water’s edge and comes back out carrying a nice bass. Sometimes it will land and eat its catch right on the dike and other times it flies over to the hedgerow and dines there.
Of course most ponds have another regular feathered visitor — a blue heron. That tall, skinny bird will fly in and land in the shallows. While standing perfectly still, it wiggles a toe to attract a fish. The fish, thinking it’s a worm, moves in and is struck by the heron before it’s swallowed whole. It’s a regular ritual for the bird, and he comes almost every day.
To scare the heron away, we made a scarecrow and put it near the edge of the pond. Now that bird was smart. It didn’t take him very long to figure out the scarecrow wouldn’t harm him. One day I drove up the hill, and the worthless fish thief was standing right next to the scarecrow.
A year or so ago, I told you about a blond coyote I was seeing on the hill. Well, he’s back. He digs in the woodchuck holes just above the pond. He sits right next to the hole and waits patiently for a groundhog to come out to eat. I’ve told the woodchucks that as long as they don’t dig holes in my lawn, I won’t bother them. I guess that coyote enforces my rule. He seems to be doing a good job so far.
Lets face it. Predators are not always bad. Sure we like to watch the baby geese grow up and learn to fly, but the merganser is another story. Merganser ducks eat fish — lots of them. I like to catch and eat the fish in my pond, so we’re just as happy they moved on.
Actually, its all part of nature. I’ve spent my life watching the animals and birds. Being a hunter, I took my share. So, I guess that made me a predator as well.