A pond is just a pond

A pond is just a pond Earl Norman Plato
A pond is just a pond is just a pond. Not so at Longmeadow farm, dgeway. There were two ponds on the farm property and a larger one next door on the Earl Michael property. The pond I am writing about is at the south end of the Longmeadow farm lane near Erie road. Now in 2005 we drive past that lane and pond on our way to see ducks and swans at Point Abino Bay. This is a spring story about that little pond that I observed over the years we lived there. Benji , my black Labrador, and I would walk down the lane past the pond on the way to Lake Erie’s beaches. Late nature writer Ed Teale gave me the idea about favourite ponds. One spring my dog and I stopped at the pond. I thought that it’s warm today and the ice is going out of the pond. As we and Benji looked at the ice that warm morning we saw it melting and shrinking in the sun. We saw it growing thinner and filled with holes. I poked my walking stick at the spongy surface as it turned to slush. Only a thin shelving of thicker ice remained along the banks. When we returned from our ramble there was a five metre stretch of open water from end to end. As we paused a kingfisher swept in a rattling circuit of the pond. Do you know the kingfisher’s call? This early spring arrival would feed on the small fish in the pond. He landed on a nearby tree branch and waited for us to leave. Then a great thrill as a pair of Wood ducks came plowing through the cold pond water and came to a halt. Benji barked and these colourful ducks took off just a s quickly as they had landed. Hopefully they would build a nest in the surrounding wetlands of lower Longmeadow farm. Adopt a pond this spring and observe the life there. Enjoy Niagara’s springtime.
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Mike Johnston called. “Earl, two large flocks of swans flew over last night heading for Point Abino.” Thanks Mike but Brenda, his wife and my niece, called last night so I aiready knew. So out I drove along Erie Road to Point Abino mid-morning. Yes, I passed the Longmeadow farm pond. It was still frozen. I was alone with binoculars and camera. I grew excited as I turned left on to Point Abino Road. I had seen as many as 300 Whistling swans there in other years. Bottom feeders that they are of the great underwater banks of wild celery in the bay. I drove over the rise expecting to see a hundred or so swans. Plato, the bay is frozen over! No swans! A wild goose chase? No, It was a wild swan chase. They will be back to Point Abino Bay and I will too.