Observation 7

Site: In front of my house/pond
Date: May 28, 2008
Time: 7:02 pm
Temp:39.7 degrees F
Weather: It was a little chilly but there was no rain- it was a little overcast and there was sun -a little sprinkling of rain

Soil: The soil was still really wet and damp but not mud anymore. Deep down is still really damp also.
Hypothesis: Male left and female stayed? Did male go take care of ducklings?

When I came home and saw my pond, the most significant thing I saw was that the ducks were back after a long time not coming to the pond. But the male disappeared and the female stayed out in the water. Maybe the male went to take care of the ducklings while the female got to relax. But she was really hard to see because she was using one of her survival needs, which is the grass, and was camoflauging in it. Her camoflauge is also an anti-predator adaption which helps her stay out of danger from bigger birds. While I was watching her, she made some weird motions which I understood what she was doing. She was using one of the abiotic factors, the water, to maybe cool down or wet her feathers. What she would do was instead of just sticking her head under the water to get food, which she was doing also, she would quickly dive under and come back up. She did that four times in a row. Then she saw me and maybe thought of me as a predator or she was just fanning herself. But she basically "stood" on her tail feathers and flapped them rappidly. When that didn't work, she flew off. So maybe I was a predator to her. I didn't see any new organisms or populations today, but I did notice the water is much lowere than it was and the grass is now well above the water. It smelt a little bit of rain because it did sprinkle earlier and the soil is very rich because of the water and the grass is now thriving. I have also noticed the grass and flora communities are thriving around my pond. It was a very calm night and the running water almost put me to sleep as I was just lying in the grass today.