It's spring and the goldfish in my pond are getting frisky. It's very obvious what is on their mind! So, I try to prep the pond for the babies.
At Petco I got this aquarium plant and put it in the pond so the baby goldfish will have a place to hide. When they're tiny they are solid black so they can hide from predators. Then, as they grow you will see a bit of orange and then they're orange, orange and white with no black. I'm looking forward to babies in my pond, again.
And, looky here!! Those tiny, tiny caterpillars grew in just a few days. They have plenty to eat. Any hour, now, they will be heading off to become beautiful black swallowtail butterflies. In my garden today, I saw three black swallowtail butterflies and not sure if they are newly hatched from their cocoons. And, I saw a fritillary butterfly. I do have a passion vine that I grow just for them. But, it isn't big enough to support several caterpillars, yet.
I've been suspicious and today I'm positive that there are little wrens nesting in this white birdhouse. It's right outside my kitchen window. It's so sweet to watch the process, but I'm concerned about Charlie and Punkin when the babies take first flight. So, when I see the baby birds have hatched and the parents are feeding them I'll count the days. Then, I'm going to put a fence of chicken wire around that area of my rock walk, hoping to give those babies more protection. When they first come out of the nest they tend to fly down, not up. I'm going to count the days of feeding and try to guess first flight day and will try to stay home from work to watch and protect.
I do take very seriously, nature and budding life in my garden.
That's what makes me happy!
wow beautiful pond lynda! OK you should check out my friend who is an American Clay applicator but she also does decoritive finishes WITH the clay! (like paints with the clay) she does the most beautiful Koi fish with the product - you guys would really hit it off:-)
ReplyDeletehttp://twigandafeather.com/art_gallery
Thank you and I will check out her website.
ReplyDeleteI had to smile at the thought of your frisky goldfish, we're going through the same thing. I've noticed that some of the babies never get orange on them and stay black while the odd one remains white. I'm sure the large frog population in our pond must eat fish babies, I've seen one eat a frog tadpole; little legs waving and all.
ReplyDeleteI've had black swallowtail caterpillars on my dill most years but we've had so much rain that we're not seeing any butterflies this year. :-( I'll hope for yours to survive!
I do love my goldfish and pond. I've had the pond for many years and love to watch their behavior. My black babies always turn orange or white. I do love the way they look, swimming in the pond, when they're still small and black. I do have lots of butterflies in my yard and it truly makes me very happy. Hope you get your's soon.
DeleteYour pond is wonderful and the fish are so colorful and pretty. Cool sighting of the caterpillars, they are neat. Wonderful post, thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteThank you! I do love my fish pond. I think the fish color is so bright and pretty because they eat a lot of the algae on the sides of the pond.
DeleteYou have a beautiful yard. So much life everywhere. The fish pond would be fun to watch.
ReplyDeleteThank you! After all of the rain recently, everything is so overgrown. But, I do love my yard and love the fish pond.
ReplyDeleteGoodness Lynda, your post is full of scrumptious bits of life and beauty. You are one lucky girl to have birds and butterflies and lovely bright goldfish around you. I wanted to wish you a good week, but I've no doubt you will if you just go out in your garden every day. :)
ReplyDeleteYes, I do love my garden. But, it's overgrown and now it's getting too hot to work in the yard. I'll get it done slowly. Thank you so much for commenting.
Delete