Pond Life, Part 1

The busiest ecological communities on Halibut Point must be its ponds, home to a vast biologic chain of energy transformations beginning with photosynthesis. Its diverse creatures cycle through patterns of creation and death, feeding on and being eaten by others in the chain.

Blue Dasher Dragonfly perched on budding Yellow Pond Lily (Nuphar variegata)

Bullfrog beside flowering Watershield (Brasenia schreberi)

Common Duckweed (Lemna minor)

Courting pair of Mallard ducks

Mother Mallard with ducklings and

Sweet-scented Water Lily (Nymphaea odorata)

Exuviae (exoskeletons) anchored to Pickerelweed (Pontederia cordata) stems.

One night in June the dragonfly nymphs crawled out of their aquatic phase

to molt into winged creatures of the air.

A dragonfly exuvia on a Pickerelweed flower

A Hummingbird moth with long proboscis

sipping nectar from a Pickerelweed flower

A female Ruby-throated hummingbird at Pickerelweed flower

A flower of the Common Bladderwort (Utricularia vulgaris)

rising from submerged foliage for pollination

Eastern Forktail Damselfly

ovipositing eggs into bladderwort foliage

Probable Ribbon Snake (very similar to Garter Snake) crossing lily pads

Fish in the Babson Farm Quarry

Ponds and lakes that retain water year round can support fish, which add to the complexity of the food chain.

Spotted Salamander

Vernal (spring) ponds that dry up in the summer support the rapid reproduction phase of certain amphibians whose eggs and juveniles would otherwise be vulnerable to fish.

Green Heron

Pond reflections suggest the variety of ways that water comprises an essential element for organic life.