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Poetry Friday

 Walks to the pond continue to be a highlight of our daily routine, even though we haven't seen any tadpoles for more than two weeks. When we last saw them, they were in the shallower end of the pond, where the reeds are more dense. This also happens to be as far away as they could get from the deepest part of the pond where the salamanders like to swim. The reeds have gotten quite tall so it's nearly impossible to tell if any tadpoles will survive to frog-dom. 

There are five mature frogs living in the pond. They are quite entertaining to watch and listen to. They will have occasional spats over preferred spots for hanging out, but most of the time, they are resting lightly on plants, their little heads poking out of the water. Here are three of them, sunning themselves and enjoying the lily pads that have recently emerged.

A small pond edged with stones. There are tall reed grasses growing, as well as lily pads and one white pond lily bloom. Three frogs are resting on the plants in the sun.


This week we were surprised to see a new animal in the pond. 

At first I only saw the tail end of a slender body slipping between the rocks just in front of where I was standing when I took the picture above. I wondered if it was an eel. 

Then our pond visitor emerged from the rocks and started swimming through the water towards the back of the pond. Or should I say slithering across the water? Because that's exactly what it looked like.

He passed a bit too close to the frog you see on the lily pad. In a splash, the frog jumped away, heading to the reeds on the left. Then our pond visitor claimed a lily pad of his own and started basking in the sun.

Because he was wet, it was hard to judge his colors and markings, but we think this is a Ringelnatter, a Swiss grass snake. He might be harmless, but like the frog, I'm happiest observing him from a distance!

This experience inspired my poem this week - a haiku.

Photo of a pond with a snake basking in the sun on a lily pad. Poem below reads: sinuous s-curve slips silently through the pond basks in summer sun. copyright 2021 by Elisabeth Norton



This week Poetry Friday is being hosted by Carol over at Carol's Corner. More poetic delights await you in the Poetry Friday post.


Comments

  1. Oh, Elisabeth, I love reading this aloud, with all the snaky sssss sounds. Beautiful. Thanks for the pond update. Love the wildlife you shared.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Denise! It was fun to play with those s-sounds.

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  2. "Sinuous" says a lot, doesn't it? I'm unsure ifI've ever seen a snake "basking", mostly I've spotted them on warm rocks. Lovely capture in pics & words!

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    Replies
    1. I have never seen a snake in the water before (apart from nature documentaries), so it was fun to try to capture that experience in words and pictures. Thanks for stopping by Linda!

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  3. Replies
    1. Thanks Ruth! I appreciate you stopping by the pond this week.

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  4. How light it must be, to lie across the lily pad and not weigh it down at all! Ringelnatter is a charming name. Thanks for sharing your sinuous visitor with us!

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    Replies
    1. I wish I'd had the presence of mind to switch to video so I could capture him moving across the top of the water - it was amazing to see! I'm glad I was at least able to get a picture of him resting. Thanks for stopping by Tabatha!

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  5. Your haiku is all kinds of perfect!

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