Longfellow Pond Nature Walk 06/28/2022

Today I went on a very nice walk around Longfellow Pond (without my dog this time), I had never been around the pond before despite it being very close to my normal dog walking route of Centennial, and I was very surprised by how different the biodiversity seemed to be here despite the two places very close distance. I opted to go later in the day so that it wouldn't be too hot, and despite being about 80 degrees the amount of tree cover allowed for a lot of shade, so it wasn't unbearably hot for this nature walk. As I walked around the pond, I kept noticing a lot of different plants than Centennial had, which could be attributed to the fact that while Centennial has a pond, it is not completely a water based area, whereas Longfellow is mostly wetlands. Even the flowers that I found were completely different, such as the daylilies that surrounded much of the area, and while I didn't see many bees, I expect that many of the flies that were present there used the easy cup of the daylily to the pistil to pollinate the others around it. Speaking of the many flying bugs that surrounded me on my walk (and were quite annoying to deal with, especially with the heat and humidity) I assume that they are some of the many sources of food for the bullfrogs that I found in the pond (and managed to take a picture of!), and the duckweed (I believe) that sits on top of the pond provides a great camouflage from predators (as well as a great food source), I almost couldn't see the little guy I managed to capture because of it! Probably the best and most amazing part of my walk was seeing a Great Blue Heron, I had never seen one before and my mind instantly went to dinosaur when I saw it because it was absolutely HUGE! There were so many turtles, frogs and fish in the pond that I'm sure it loves hanging around there to be able to find a stable food source, and it was just so amazing to see in person that I will never forget it, I probably wouldn't have even looked to that side, however the rushing water from the dam into a brook made me look over to see it and I'm so grateful I was able to capture it. There was also a lot of moss on the ground and some on the trees which from what I learned from class, helps filter out harmful toxins in wet areas and keeps them clean, as well as keeping the humidity around the pond which helps other plants grow and thrive, and in turn allows the wildlife many sources of food. This was by far my better nature walk because I was genuinely able to see how the things we learned about in class actually play out in real life right in front of my eyes (as well as the many animal sightings that were absolutely amazing) and even though the geese from the pond were surrounding my car as I tried to leave, I think I will be partaking in nature walks more often and opening my eyes to the amazing world around me!

Publicado el 29 de junio de 2022 por grinerg