Something New at the Ponds

First, let me admit that there is a bit of mystery about the sighting this afternoon. I go by these ponds almost every day. They were full from spring rains until now. They have been full of birds all through the summer, but now the birds are leaving. It's time for them to go. With each cool day there are fewer things to see at the ponds, er, mud wallows.

Lately I've been watching a Great Blue Heron move from one pond to the other. I have counted turtles (about 5 to 8 on one pond and 6 or so BIG ones on the distant pond).

I keep a list for each day to compare. Sometimes I note the temperature and wind. It's not very scientific, but I have had some great moments - like the 5 Roseate Spoonbills a few weeks ago (likely hurricane blown our direction).

Today I was there about 9:30 a.m. and saw about 20 Cattle Egrets. They were flying as a group fairly close to the road. Their swooping surprised me - I watched a good bit in my rear-view mirror. I caught a photo of them through my dirty windshield when they perched in an oak as the cattle below mosied out to the fields.

You can see how close everything was to the road.

Even here they are the goofiest looking of the egrets. But they are lovely in flight. Maybe next time a photo of that.

I also saw a couple of Scissor-tailed Flycatchers on a wire on my way away from the ponds.

I love these birds.

I spent a few hours on campus - working on some terribly last-minute projects that may or may not turn out. [We will see.]

After finishing all I could, starting a kiln, and cleaning up my extensive mess, I headed home.

Only at the last minute did I think about going back to the ponds. I don't think of 2:00 p.m. as a good time to see anything. I would rather be there early in the morning or in the early evening. Still, I never know what I will see (or be able to identify).

The Cattle Egrets were long gone. A Mocking Bird flew by (mocking me - what else?).

Lately there have been a few birds on the far pond. It is one of the three that still have a little water, although all are slowly drying. I stopped and used my small binoculars to see a Great Blue Heron at the water's edge. It had caught something. I suppose it is much easier to catch fish as the water level drops.

There were a couple of ducks. I am terrible with ducks. I did not identify these as they were really too far for me to see any details. They could have been part of a family of Black-bellied Whistling Ducks we have watched for months. A cormorant-looking bird was also on the shore with about 6 large turtles.

Then I noticed the turtles heading for the water and scanned the shoreline. A BIG creature came out from the woods and ambled to the pond. It got in the water where I lost sight of it until it stood up at a spot near the birds. I had thought it was a big raccoon at first, but it seemed the wrong time of day and the shape of the head was wrong for a raccoon. I thought "nutria."

It looked like the critter caught something and took it back across the pond and into the woods. Nutria and beavers are herbivores. So, there is still an argument here for raccoon.

After consulting with JH, my naturalist friend, we have "kind of" concluded it was a beaver. Still, I am off to watch YouTube videos of beavers and nutria swimming and walking.*

My photos show that something is there, but what remains a mystery.

Here is a map. The X is the woods. The creature walked out of the woods to the shore where it swam (see arrow) over to where the birds were feeding. It disturbed the heron and turtles, but not the other birds. The pink dot was where I was sitting.

Here is my view...it was 10x magnification on the cell phone. I gotta get a good camera.

Red circle - mystery creature. Green circle, Great Blue Heron. Blue oval, cormorant (?) At least this gives you an idea of the size of the thing.

NOTES:

*We call this exercise "nature porn." We do watch a lot of YouTube, but usually for frog calls.