OT Things to ponder

[geofflambert]

Goldens are not and never have been rare in the Rockies.

[geofflambert]

I still say that first one is an osprey

[geofflambert]

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[geofflambert]

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[geofflambert]

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[geofflambert]

Please keep your pet fish on a leash so that doesn't happen to them.

[geofflambert]

Talk about a food chain

[Lecivius]

ORIGINAL: geofflambert

Goldens are not and never have been rare in the Rockies.

Oops , I misread this [8|]

https://www.denverpost.com/2019/07/05/g ... nds-ranch/

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: geofflambert

Please keep your pet fish on a leash so that doesn't happen to them.

One feature of a newly-built place where I worked was a large pond designed to receive and retain rainwater and snow melt from the building's 6-acre roof. (This reduced the necessity to install large storm drains in the area). There was a shopping mall with a pet store across the road and some workers decided to buy a few goldfish and put them in the pond.

Now these tank-raised goldfish (koi) were only 3-4 inches long but they grow as large as the environment will allow. For a couple of years the fish were nearly never seen in the pond and a few were added each year on the assumption that the others died when winter covered the pond in ice. About 5-6 years later there was a notable school of fish about 8 inches long in the pond. Insects and frogs/tadpoles provided the food, as did employees having lunch on the patio throwing their sandwich leftovers to the fish. There was a couple of Great Blue Herons and even a Green Heron that hunted on the pond shallows.

Flash forward another 2-3 years and the school of fish was enormous, with many fish appearing to be about a pound in size. Most were gold coloured, but there was a smattering of black and white ones. The pond was deep enough that these fish must have been surviving the freeze-over of the pond. Around this time the first cormorants appeared in the fall as they were migrating south for the winter. About 10 of them spent a few days swimming on the pond, feasting, then flying up to the edge of the building roof, spreading their wings out and sunning themselves - life was good! But there were so many fish they hardly made a dent.

In subsequent years the cormorant flock grew larger (offspring of the originals?) and appeared during both spring and fall migrations. Now they were making a read dent in the fish population and a funny thing happened - the gold koi disappeared (eaten, I presume) and then the white ones until only a few black ones were left. I took a job in a different location, but went back to that pond 5-6 years later and no koi could be seen in the brief time I had there. Looks like humans aren't the only critters that can over-fish a body of water! [:D]

So the Gorn's advice is sage - keep your koi on a leash!

[Orm]

Thank you for sharing that story. [:)] [&o]

[RangerJoe]

I have seen the Golden Eagle in the migration area but they had a nest in the area. They made the Bald Eagles look small . . .

[fcooke]

Koi and ponds.....

We bought our place about 8 years ago and it came with a pond and maybe 6 koi - but monsters - about 2 feet each. We tried to add to the population, but the things are not cheap to buy, and the ones we added never seemed to show up again. And the black ones may still be in there but I will never see them again - black koi in a pond are like the the grass carp - completely cammo.

We have a blue heron who comes but from time to time but I have never seen it take a fish. Funky ancient birds if you have ever seen one.

Alas, when we bought the place there were no bass in the pond. Now there are. My assumption is that a bird dropped some eggs at some point and the bass have been having a koi fest since. Expensive fish food. A friend and his daughter went fishing for the bass about a month ago. She caught a nice one that became her dinner. He hooked one that broke his pole.

Mother nature is very interesting, but I wish I had the koi dollars back. I was hoping to create a 'koi pack' like you would see in Japan. Might have to buy some fishing gear to get the bass under control.

[RangerJoe]

When you clean the bass, trim off the belly fat since that is where the PCBs and stuff like that accumulate. Otherwise, enjoy.

[fcooke]

Crikey - I hope there are not PCBs in the pond but thank you for that bit of knowledge. Learned something - which makes it a good day.

Best RJ,
Frank

[RangerJoe]

PCB are/were in the oil in electric transformers to reduce the chance of fires. Pesticides and herbicides can be washed in with the rain if any have been used. They can also fly around with the dust. You can't help but be exposed to them but you can reduce it somewhat. Around here it is mostly natural mercury in the water but some of it flies in from Chinese coal plants. About 20% of the total mercury here comes from China since there are little to no pollution controls there.

If you really want some good fish in your pond, stock it with bluegills. They are delicious when smoked very dry - they end up like jerky.

[fcooke]

A reason to pull out the smoker!

There used to be a lot in there but none ever got above 2 inches. I suspect the Bass have been feeding on them as well. But bluegill jerky sounds good. And they do seem to breed like rabbits. So no shortage. When the end of the world comes I will be able to live off of fish and venison.

I generally hope the world is not coming to an end.

[RangerJoe]

Yes, the bass and maybe even the Koi.

[geofflambert]

This is, perhaps, just a statement. For some time now it has seemed that AOL wants to discourage anyone from using their email service. I've been using them since dial-up. I can't even imagine how many places list my AOL address for contact. I do use a gmail account but only for PBEMs. If I had to change it wouldn't be to gmail. I've been encountering one problem after another accessing my emails. The latest you'll see below. All the reasons they give why I might be having an "authentication problem" are nothing but pure BS.

[geofflambert]

They are so nice though, giving me an option

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: geofflambert

This is, perhaps, just a statement. For some time now it has seemed that AOL wants to discourage anyone from using their email service. I've been using them since dial-up. I can't even imagine how many places list my AOL address for contact. I do use a gmail account but only for PBEMs. If I had to change it wouldn't be to gmail. I've been encountering one problem after another accessing my emails. The latest you'll see below. All the reasons they give why I might be having an "authentication problem" are nothing but pure BS.

Clear discrimination against Gorns! They even mock you with the tin can facsimile they created!
You must convince them you are not a foreign troll by eating some of them - the trolls, not the Google employees.