Discovering Summer's Ponds & Puddles
by Esther Kiviat

Exploring water life with young children on a warm summer day can lead to exciting discoveries. Perhaps it is because the beginnings of all life were in the sea. Wherever it is, the water in a pond or a puddle, a meandering stream or a rushing brook, a marsh, a swamp, or other wetland, is teeming with plant and animal life. For that matter, so is the air above it and the sand, mud, grass and weeds around its edges and along the shore.

A small, quiet, preferably shallow pond may be the easiest place to explore. There, children can wade in barefoot or wearing old sneakers or rubber boots. Before you leave home, assemble some simple equipment in a backpack or tote bag: a white dish or shallow white enameled pan, a few baby food jars or other small transparent containers for your catch, an old spoon or garden trowel, a wire mesh kitchen strainer, and perhaps a small dip net. You can make one from a piece of discarded nylon net curtain sewed to a bent wire hanger (as seen in photo below). And, finally, add a magical magnifying glass (if it's Grandpa's reading glass, be sure to return before nightfall). Eventually, you may want to obtain a field guide on pond life to help you identify and learn more about the creatures you discover. A handy, widely available one is the Golden Guide to Pond Life by George K. Reid, revised in 2001.

Start your investigations by taking a rock from the water and turning it over, or examine some decaying leaves from the pond. Clinging to the bottom of the rock or among the leaves are amazing creatures and structures. Under the magnifying glass will appear little black "worms," baby snails, jelly-like small egg masses, beetles, or insect larvae crawling about. Larvae are the juvenile forms that hatch from the eggs of many insects. Some aquatic insects go through four stages: egg, gill-breathing larva, pupa, and air-breathing adult. Others, like dragonflies and pond skaters, have three stages: eggs, nymphs that grow successfully bigger, and adults.

Most fascinating are the cylindrical or rectangular tube-like cases from one-half to one inch long, fastened to a rock. Transfer a few to the white pan and examine them with the magnifying glass. Some are constructed of rolled leaves or minute sticks; some are built of tiny pebbles or grains of sand stuck together. Add a little water to the pan and the strange little cases being moving about. If you watch closely, you will see diminutive worm-like creatures sticking out their heads and dragging the cases around as they search for miniscule bits of plant food in the water.

These odd little creatures are the larvae of caddis flies. Each species of caddis fly larva constructs a different type of tube case, cementing it together with its own saliva. Some cases are square, some rectangular, some round, some neat and perfect arranged; others unkempt, with bits of leaves or tiny twigs sticking out. Each species of caddis fly larvae lives in a specific environment, whether a pond, a lake, a slow or a fast-moving brook, and there are over 750 species of them in North America.

The hungry caddis "worm" lives in its portable house, eating heavily, until it reaches full size and begins to pupate (change into adult form). The pupae of many species stay in their cases while pupating. Some species may glue their cases to the edges of stones. Some burrow into wood or bark. The adult caddis fly, which finally emerges, is small and moth-like, and does not eat at all. Its only task seems to be to lay countless eggs. It also is relished by hungry fish, especially trout.

As you observe the pond, you may see slim insects with six long legs "skating" over the surface. These are water striders, also called pond skaters. They are about three-quarters of an inch long. Watch while they catch and eat other insects. Note their fascinating shadows on the bottom as they swim in rapid, ceaseless movements. Under water you may see water boatmen, whirligig beetles, large diving beetles, or schools of minnows. Try to catch some with the strainer or dip net to get a closer look.

Ferocious-looking monsters, up to an inch long, crawling on the bottom, are nymphs or young of dragonflies, dobson flies, or other insects. Scoop out some detritus (decaying matter on the bottom) or some green algae, the slimy minute plants often seen floating in large masses on top. Put some in the white pan. Wait patiently for a few minutes until little creatures emerge. Diminutive worms, spiders, larvae, and brightly-colored round fat mites with eight legs, about one-eighth inch long, are among the myriad life forms.

When you are ready to rest, sit quietly at the water's edge for awhile. Beautiful predacious dragonflies skim the water, catching insects on the wing. Graceful swallows also dip and dart for insects. A marsh hawk or northern harrier, with its white rump, hovers nearby, searching for prey. Occasionally a water snake glides into the water in search of food. Farther out a painted turtle suns itself on a floating log. A large, bug-eyed bullfrog plops into the pond with a splash. In the mud on shore may be tracks of racoons, opossums, or other mammals that come at night to eat or drink.

Look around you at the great variety of plants that grow along the moist edges--tall cattails swaying gracefully in the breeze, lovely wild yellow iris, a multitude of grasses. Floating on the water may be white water lilies or yellow water lily (spatterdock), and masses of tiny floating round or oval green "leaves" called duckweed. Two plants with arrow-shaped leaves, arrow arum and arrowhead, grow near the shore with their feet in the water. Every form of life abounds in, around, and over a pond.

Before you and the children leave, return all the rocks, algae, and small creatures to the water.