Feeding Fish

Every evening, between about 6:30 and 7:30, we go to the pond and feed the fish. We have "naturals" and goldfish, and some that appear to be a cross between the two. We have at least two large fish, who really can't be much more than a year old, but huge compared to the others.

I think I could stand there for hours, tossing floating pellets on the water and watching them gulp and nibble - it's almost meditative for me. I find it fascinating to watch for the "east end lunker," who simply moves to the surface, opens his mouth, and the pellets flow in, as though drawn to the vortex. Then there are the little minnows near the pond edge...brave little things, valiantly working on a pellet that is nearly the same size as they are! You see them bump and nibble, and at times look as though they have it trapped in their mouths. They work and work at those pellets, never giving up. Sometimes a big turtle passes through, but he's shy. The most we'll see is a head that peers over the ripples at us, and then drops back down. We've had both great blue and green herons this year, but I'm not ready to share my fish with them yet. I walk down with the camera, and being the camera shy birds they are, they flap away.

I know the time isn't far off when the pond will be iced over, and my evening ritual will evolve to something other than fish observation and feeding. For now, however, it makes my day.