One of the reasons we moved to the Robson Valley was to live in a relatively pristine environment and hopefully see a lot of wildlife. That was also why I had my pond dug in 1993. It was an attempt to attract more wildlife to our property, especially aquatic-based wildlife, of which we previously had none.
During the spring of 1994, when my pond had filled, I did begin to see it start to attract water insects and then waterfowl. Days would pass when I would see no wildlife, then every once and a while, there would be a day when I would see a myriad of critters for some reason.
I was always surprised when one of those “Wildlife Days” happened. One of those days when all of the critters came out was May 15, 1994. I saw mallards on the pond at 8:00, then fifteen minutes later I spotted a bear in Mrs. Nail’s field. Twenty minutes after that, a deer walked across our yard. That evening there were two small ducks swimming in the pond; a new species for me: Green-winged Teals (photo above).
Three days later, there were four wood ducks swimming on the pond in the evening, and saw the first bat of the year, circling and darting around at dusk. I noticed some tent caterpillars on the bark of some of Mrs. Nail’s aspen trees. That was sobering, because for the three previous years, trees in Dunster and part of outlying McBride, aspen trees had been heavily impacted by the leave-stripping caterpillars.
Next day there were six wood ducks (three couples) feeding on the manure on the dam and swimming in the pond. Later, when I was herding my goats below the dam on the far side of the pond, I noticed a coyote over in Mrs. Nail’s field eyeing me and the goats.
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