In all the literature about creating a safe haven for wildlife, making sure there is a source of water is emphasized. That, and the love of water and the sounds of water flowing caused me to create the little pond that is out in the corner by the vegetable garden.
I adopted one of my favorite sayings from the movie “Field of Dreams”: “If you build it, they will come.” I still remember the day after I installed the pond liner and filled the pond with water. The following morning, there were little water striders on the surface. Where did they come from? How did they know there was a pond?
My yard is alive with birds. When I look out my kitchen window, I see them flying back and forth to the pond, landing in the evergreens that hang over it to wait their turn at the bathing pool. When I work in my garden, there is a constant stream of chat interspersed with fluttering sounds.
And yet, when you look at the pond, it seems deserted.
I was weeding the vegetable garden, and when I stood up I got to watch a cardinal preening and rearranging his plumage after his morning ablutions. Just as I got set to shoot this picture, the two gold finches who had been sharing the fence with him took off. I think they disapproved of all the water he was spraying around as he shook his wings.
His girlfriend was down by the bathing pool, thinking about availing herself of the facilities.
Yes, there is a bird in there. She is standing on the rock just above and left of the pool at the top of the waterfall.
Want another puzzle in camouflage? See if you can see the gold finch in the next shot.
Need a hint? He is right in the middle of the shot, just to the right of the thickest forsythia branch.
This is why I can watch four cardinals and a dozen gold finches fly into the forsythia “Waiting for the Bath” bush and not be able to see any birds out there.
The pond surface is much easier to photograph.
About an hour and half before I took that picture, I was out clearing stuff out of the filter of the pond pump, and I noticed a juxtaposition of things that pleased my eye: a little pond hunter spider and a feather from the finches floating amidst the fallen leaves. “Ooh,” I thought to myself. “This would make such a great shot. Too bad my camera is in the house.” I started off to fetch it, but got distracted by weeds and such. When I finally had it, I had forgotten about the spider and the feather, and spent a good hour weeding the asparagus patch. Then I picked a bunch of vegetables for my dinner and lunch: stuff to add to the soup and ingredients for a fritatta.
By the way, those potatoes came out from under one very happy potato plant that was only about 9 inches tall. I was expecting one potato.
Anyhow, the bathing cardinal reminded me of the pond photo op, and as I was trying to capture Ms. Cardinal, I remembered the feather and the spider. I strolled over to the place where I had seen them last, and caught the picture above. But I really wanted the spider.
As I crouched beside the pond, I noticed that the things on the surface gently circulate around the pond, and I started to wonder if I might not be able to locate the feather I had seen previously. And the spider. So I began a slow circumambulation of the pond, and after a while I found them both!
Of course, I didn’t really like where the spider was in relation to the feather, and so I started annoying her gently, trying to get her to move closer to it. After a while, she got very huffy with me, and disappeared right before my very eyes, moving over the edge of the leaf she was standing on, tucking a bubble of air into her abdomen and pulling the surface tension of the water around her to make a safe haven. Zip! Safe from the predators above, confounding the nosy parker poking at her.
I was entranced. Needless to say, I tried to get a picture of her under her leaf, but I need an entirely different camera for that! Anyway, after a while she left her haven and proceeded on her hunt, trying to ignore me.
Then a tiny moth wing floated into the shot.
All in all I probably spent half an hour crouched at the edge of the pond. The rain that had been threatening all morning finally started. So I gave it up and went inside to the dusting which I have been avoiding all week.
If you ask Ruby, she’ll tell you her mother is certifiably insane.
the havens 
ooooh, sometimes I really do feel as though I’m crouching by your shoulder, the way you describe things.
I love the spider with the leaves, feather, flower and wing.
That shot flowed into shape and out of it so fast I almost didn’t catch that particular arrangement.
Ruby thinks crouching by the pond is a losing proposition.
I couldn’t find any of those hidden birds, even after you said where they were. I am greatly perplexed. And I want your lunch.
We already ate that lunch, but there is more where that came from!
The birds: First picture, cardinal lady. She is brown, almost the same color as the fence. If you look at the picture, up in the left hand corner there is a pale stem slanting down from just below the upper edge towards the right. If you follow that stem, there is another stem that makes an “x” with it. The crossing of the “x” is about 1/3 of the way across the picture. She is standing directly below the crossing. She is standing with her tail heading off to the left, it almost goes as far as the upward swoop of the leg of the x. Right below the crossing is her crest, just below her crest you can see her pale beak and one beady eye just to the right of her beak. She is so well camouflaged, but once you see her face the rest of her sort of jumps out.
The finch does a jumping out too. Just to the left of center is the thick vertical note of a forsythia branch. Almost exactly one half of the way up the picture is a shadow in the waterfall that is rectangular. If you look at the low edge of the rectangle, that is the bird’s back. There are black and white stripes there; those are the wing bars. He is facing to the right. Follow the scooping line of his back up to the right and you will find his head. This bird has lost his breeding colors and is no longer the yellow you expect from a summer finch. He is almost the exact same color as the rock behind him. When I put my ruler up to the photo on the computer screen, my computer makes this picture four and half inches wide and six and half inches tall. The eye of the finch is almost exactly in the middle of the shot, just a titch above the half way spot vertically.
Can you see them now? No wonder when they are alive and sitting still in the bush the bush looks empty. Sometimes I walk out to what appears to be a deserted pond and 24 birds fly up out of the area. Quite amazing.
What is REALLY amazing is the way that bright red male cardinal can disappear into a green tree in the middle of the summer.
I had to really search for the finch – he looks like a ghostly apparition in that shot
What really is striking is the color change they go through in the fall. A few weeks ago you would have had no trouble spotting the bright yellow bird that has now dressed himself in winter camouflage. The hawks get very hungry in the winter, it behooves a small bird to be as invisible as possible during the hungry months.
Your photos make me want a little pond badly. But my wife had one at her old place and found it a lot of work. Then there’s also the time I slipped and fell in it. I am hoping she will soften to the idea eventually. FWIW I found the goldfinch right away but the cardinal took some looking. As always, SPLENDID photos!
My pond is only a lot of work about two days a year! That would be when I clean the overgrown reeds and cat tails out of it. But my advice to you is if you want a pond, go ahead and put one in. DON’T put fish in it for at least a year, maybe never. Fish make fertilizer that encourages the algae and the water turns green. I have enough plants to use up the fish fertilizer, so my water mostly stays clear.
A pond will encourage so many bits of wildlife, it brings the yard to life. They make kits, you know. You don’t have to dig the hole out and line it with a liner and rocks the way I did. It’s just more “fun” if you do. . .
Beautiful post, HMH! I love cardinals. I haven’t seen any since coming back west, but they were regular visitors to my balcony when I lived in Ontario. Lovely, lovely birds! I also love gardens with water features!
I have been catching up here and loving every minute of it. The story of the pond was fascinating and so well told, we were with you all the while. Amazing how the spider can disappear, I had no idea how that worked. I needed your hints to see the birds, but was most amazed at the finch. I saw the stripes of the wings and knew he was there, but could not see the bird itself. It was like the cheshire cat in alice in wonderland, disappearing and reappearing except for the smile. Only this was the stripe on the wing. Wonderful!
Frances
Oh, your garden! So beautiful and abundant too. I hope one day I can grow some vegetables but alas, I’ve had no real garden for a decade. Just pots now but better than nothing. 🙂