What's in the water?

The last time we got together, we were talking about all of the birds in the ponds on the golf course.  While the birds are pretty, there's a lot of other wildlife you can see in the water at Laurel Creek.  One thing you'd probably guess we have there are fish--and you would be correct! There's catfish, with a big head and mouth.

Then there's bass, too.  Remember I was talking about the Great Blue Herons--well, sometimes they get to enjoy bass for breakfast.

The biggest fish on the golf course are the triploid grass-eating carp, that help to control aquatic vegetation.  These fish have an extra  set of chromosomes, so they aren't able to reproduce, which is important--a few of them are good, but too many could be a problem.  They were put here many years ago, by the guys who take care of the golf course.

Besides all of the fish, there are a whole lot of turtles on the golf course.  One of the craziest things about turtles is that they are reptiles, which means they need to breathe air, like we do.  But somehow, turtles are able to spend months under water in the winter by breathing with their butt.

Sometimes it looks like there's a huge turtle party when all of the Painted Turtles get together.

Another kind of turtle is called a Snapping Turtle.  As a dog, I'm pretty curious, but have always been told not to go sticking my nose into a Snapping Turtle's business.

There are also mammals (like me) who enjoy the water.  Muskrats are rodents (like mice and rats), but are pretty cute looking.  About the only thing they do to the golf course is tunnel into the pond banks.

There's another rodent that often visits the golf course, which is even larger than the muskrat:  The beaver.   Sometimes in the early morning they swim right under the bridge between the Clubhouse and golf course.

Like all rodents, the beaver's teeth never stop growing.  They can do some serious chomping on trees, like these near #2 tee.

That's my wildlife report for now!