Reports, comments, thoughts, and (mostly) photos of my family, animals, friends, pondfish, plants, and flowers living in and around our Ventura home. (Layout is viewed best in Internet Explorer or Google Chrome.)
I am so happy to have seen seven different raccoons in our backyard the past several weeks and none of them has caught a fish in our pond! Before I deepened and enlarged our fish ponds, I had gotten used to losing fish once they got to "good eating" size. As we begin to say goodbye to summer and look ahead to early fall (when raccoon raids have been the most destructive) it has been a pleasure to sit and watch the fish at their most active time. It has also been fun to have walked outside just as different raccoons have been crossing our pond bridge without trying to catch our fish! (By the time I had run inside for the camera, the raccoons were already in the tree or over the wall. I did get this lone 'coon as well as two of a group of four visiors.)
We were lucky to see this guy before he saw us! We hope there isn't enough flying room between the bridge and the avocado tree for him to try catching fish in his talons because he is gorgeous and we'd love to see him up close again!
One day before I broke my leg, I finally finished my pond "remodel". (I'll link to photos of the process when I get a chance.) There are still plants and rocks that need to be put back and more plants to add, but until my leg is healed, I'll just have to wait. Tom moved a few things for me (especially the fish!) and feeds them every night. During the recent heat wave, we've really enjoyed sitting on the back porch with our evening drinks, watching the fish eat. Here's a video I put together as the fish learned it was safe to come out and eat while we are still in the area.
Just when I thought the fish were safe - since the deeper pond and the ScareCrow were keeping the predators away . . . . . . this one died of seemingly natural causes! Oh well, now we have just two koi and 3 -5(I won't know until the weather gets warmer and they start moving around more) goldfish to watch this winter.
I am so happy to have seen seven different raccoons in our backyard the past several weeks and none of them has caught a fish in our pond! Before I deepened and enlarged our fish ponds, I had gotten used to losing fish once they got to "good eating" size. As we begin to say goodbye to summer and look ahead to early fall (when raccoon raids have been the most destructive) it has been a pleasure to sit and watch the fish at their most active time. It has also been fun to have walked outside just as different raccoons have been crossing our pond bridge without trying to catch our fish! (By the time I had run inside for the camera, the raccoons were already in the tree or over the wall. I did get this lone 'coon as well as two of a group of four visiors.)
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