Rare Opportunity: Winters Pond Wildlife

Winters Pond has been diverted to a conduit pipe along the dam. The pond itself is now quite shallow and what's left of the pond is close to the covered bridge. I cross the bridge every day walking my buddy Linus the Boston Terrier. The wildlife is now concentrated very close to the bridge you can really get a good look at some of the animals it's almost like being at an aquarium.

There are the usual cast of characters - two white egrets, a grey egret named Walter, a resident goose with a broken wing who has been there forever; there is a group of 10 or so ducks (the ducks are mom and pop duck and this year's grown up babies who do not want to leave home); there are also two ducks that are jet black and dive under water plus the usual 15 or 20 geese.

Since the pond is so shallow and small, you are now able to see at least three really large snapping turtles just swimming around. They can't hide anymore and once you see one, you can figure out what to look for to find the others. Thier heads are huge and they look like moving shadows across the sandy bottom. I don't know how much longer they will be there because the bypass pipe is their ticket out of the pond and into the mighty Ramapo.

There are also smaller turtles around the bridge catching some sun. The pond is full of just hatched fish so there is a feeding frenzy going on most of the day. Walter, the grey egret, is magnificent looking and is always under the bridge at the base of the falls munching away on fish. I'm surprised he's not a hundred pounds by now.

Right after they put the bypass pipe in, I saw in the shallow pond what I thought was a beaver or muskrat. Today I saw him again at the spillway. It was a jet black weasel,mink,ferret looking animal. It was great because the new bypass pushed out a lot of silt so I could see him in clear water and a clean stream bottom. He swims under water and even under a few of the bigger rocks then goes to dry land and shakes.The weasel,mink ferret was sitting in plain sight and a few yards away! All this from the red bridge observation post and they are there every day. I could post pictures of the Winters Pond crew, but its better if you go there and see for yourself.

- Petethedogwalker