Let me tell you a story; The Progression of a Pond

Spring dawns in the country in upstate NY. The frogs are swimming in the pond and hanging out in the grassy shores.

Bugs skim the top of the water, playing in the sun without a care.

With the dawn of June 2017 thousands of happy tadpoles swim near the edge of the water. Some venture out into the deeper waters but all is serene and happy.

Mid June the bullfrogs invade the pond and the little frogs start to disappear. Some hide, some got eaten.

July replaces June and there are 10 goldfish and 10 minnows introduced into the pond.

Day after day I watch the fish grow big from eating the mosquito larvae in the pond. The birds and the bullfrogs have eaten all ten minnows and one gold fish.

The remaining eight gold fish swim in a school. The site of fish eggs on a stick in the water, makes me wonder if the schooling is to protect each other or as part of their mating ritual.

As I walk the perimeter of the pond I notice a large dark shadow moving in the water. A closer look reveals that even more tadpoles have hatched. The birds and bullfrogs will be very happy about this new food choice.

There's a feeling of peacefulness and serenity as I watch the miracles

of nature.

A week goes by and a snapping turtle adds himself to the population of the pond. This is the most fascinating thing to me. He's been in the water for 7 days now and he's thriving just live the other residents of our pond.

What a cool little ecosystem we have.

So today the populus of the pond is: 1 turtle, 5 bullfrogs, 24 green frogs, 4 tree frogs, thousands of tadpoles, goldfish eggs, no minnows and I'm down to 7 goldfish. I think I will go to the pet store to get more gold fish.