Blue Heron Mobbed by Unknown Bird (A Crow?)

Usually predators are mobbed by prey species, but here is a blue heron being mobbed by what might be a crow. Can anyone identify the smaller bird from its silhouette? Photo taken over western wetlands on 11 June, 2011.

Pine Lake's New Look

These photos were taken Saturday, June 11 from the road on the west (downstream) side of the lake. Note the former stream bed of Snapfinger Creek, which can now be visually traced from one side of the lake to the other.

Herons Have a Heyday

 I had no idea blew herons fly like this...

.... and like this:

Goldie is No Longer in the Lake

Goldie. Photo by Greg Creech

I was down at the lake at seven Saturday morning in hopes of seeing the big orange goldfish-- Goldie, as she has lately been christened-- captured.

The water in the lake has been reduced to a foot or so in the extreme northwest corner, and there are at least 30 great big fish there. Most will be taken Monday morning, if they survive, but getting Goldie out was a priority for everyone. Just how to do that, however, was a problem, for the water is now too shallow to float a boat and the mud on the lake floor is deep.

This is about all the water remaining in Pine Lake

Fish Capture

I stayed up stupid late last night, but awoke around 8:30 am and was down at the lake by 9:00. I'm glad I went, because I got to see something remarkable.

Two men in a flat-bottomed boat were motoring sedately around what's left of the lake, netting fish.

Be SURE to click READ MORE, below!

Empty Lake

The big pump on the berm on the western side of the lake is silent. The lake is for all practical purposes empty.

Pine Green

The eastern half of the lake has been dry for several months now and is fast turning into a meadow. Note the new growth of grass, moss, and weeds.

The Lake, She is A-Drainin'

The berm around the back side of the lake is closed due to a big wheeled pump that is emptying the lake.

The water level is falling rapidly, as can be seen from the photo at top.

Today (Wednesday) fishermen were taking advantage of the situation. I anticipate more fishermen will show as the water level drops. At some point it will be possible to just wade in and grab the fish.

It's sad the aquaponics pond didn't come to fruition. I feel sorry for the fish.

Flowers, 3 June

Beastly Hot

Record and Average Highs, Atlanta, Georgia

Temperatures across the South and in the Midwest have been fifteen degrees above normal for the past few days and are expected to continue. We can expect highs in the 90s for at least the next ten days. The projected high for tomorrow (Sunday) is 96F. Ouchie!

Yep, it can get hot here in Pine Lake-- but it's hot all over the place just now. When it gets hot here, it's generally hotter almost everywhere else.

When I tell people I live in Pine Lake they immediately assume I live in a brick oven. Yes, I say, it can get hot. Yes, it can get muggy. When I tell them it's not all that bad they don't believe me.

Click MORE, below, for my analysis of Atlanta's summer weather.

The Lake Level Falls

I braved the warm weather Friday morning to take a walk. I left the house at 8:15, thinking I would beat the heat.

Ha!

As you can see, the lake level is down a bit since the city workers knocked that hole in the drainpipe. More dry ground is visible.

Phil Howland stopped as I was walking and told me a pump will be in place by Tuesday to empty the lake. It shouldn't take long.

That means the monies for the dredging/restoration project are actually in the city's bank account. Yay!

The cold air in Phil's truck felt so good I asked him to give me a ride home, and of course he did. Thanks, Phil!

Snapping Turtle Egg-Laying Season

Common Snapping Turtle in Pine Lake's Western Wetlands

A long time ago, when I was in grad school at the University of Tennessee, I walked out the door one June morning to find a huge snapping turtle dragging itself up the gravel road beside my house.

I observed it for a while and then went on to school. When I told Gordon Burghardt, my professor, about the turtle, he wanted to know why I hadn't followed it. Clearly, he said, it was on the way to lay eggs. I could have waited, he said, and after the turtle had finally finished its business and returned to the water, dug up the eggs and brought them to him for his reptile lab.

"Right," I said. "And Dallas, by the way, where were you all last week?" I think he saw my point. But I saw his. If it had been he who had seen that turtle, he would have followed it, no matter what his schedule looked like. That's why he's a world-famous herpetologist and I'm not.

It's now egg-laying season for snappers. Someone saw one doing its business last week near the lake, and I chanced across one today in the western wetlands. It was in the grass, no doubt engaged in the egg-laying business.

I could have annoyed that snapper until it turned its head and hissed at me, and I would no doubt have gotten a great picture. But I'm not a Wild Kingdom naturalist.

If you remember the show, in every episode Marlon Perkins' man Jim Fowler was directed to wrestle a crocodile, giant constrictor, hyena, or chimpanzee into submission "for its own good"-- while Marlon watched safely from a distance.

Well, to be fair, Marlon helped sometimes.

Even as a teen I hated the contrivance of that show, and so this morning I kept my distance, getting close only with my zoom lens, annoying Mama snapper only enough to snap a photo or two from a distance of five or six feet.

Click just below to learn more about snapping turtles.