I’ll depart from my vintage camera shoot to show you the “Duck Pond” as it is now  It saddens me to drive by it every day and if there was a better way to get to town that wasn’t out of my way I would take that route as opposed to driving by the marsh now.  Even though it looks like a fair amount of water above, the water is only a few inches deep and you can see there is no wildlife on it.

If you click on the image you can get a better idea of how much water is gone.  The dead trees on the left side of the image were a couple of feet under water normally.   Vast areas of the pond are now green with vegetation.

This snap shot of a Blue Heron in flight is not very sharp.  I had just parked the car and was getting my camera when I caught a glimpse of the Heron out of the corner of my eye.  I didn’t have time to set the camera up so it was not properly set up for the shot.  The good news is that there was a Blue Heron at the pond so there are still some wild life that remains.

There are a few geese left.  Mainly those who have young and cannot yet fly.  The rest of the geese has relocated elsewhere.  Those that remain are on the far West side where there is still a little water.

The young swan has moved to the West side as well.  He cannot yet fly so he is stuck at the pond.  I have not see the other swans that use to be there for a couple of weeks now.

Finally this frog doesn’t seem to mind the lack of water.  There were many frogs still lined up around the edge of the water.  Most were out on land but there were a couple I could see that were in the water with just their head sticking out.

So this will probably be my last update on the pond for some time now.  Unless things change there really isn’t much to photograph.  I remember last year at this time the pond was a busy hub of activity with all the new families and a constant stream of new wildlife coming and going.  I hope that one day soon the pond will once aging be teaming with wildlife and full of water.

Tomorrow morning I’m going to watch the “Grandview Gallop.”  It is a 4 mile run on Dubuque’s Grandview Street.  It is held every year in conjunction with River Fest, which also in Dubuque this weekend.

On another note the Woodcarvers Convention is in Maquoketa starting Sunday and running until Friday.  If you want to see unbelievable works of art made from carving wood you should make a point to travel to Maquoketa.  The event is held at the Jackson County Fair Grounds and involves wood-carvers from all over the country.

Thanks for stopping by.  Enjoy your Friday and the weekend.  Be careful.