The Trouble with Vernal Pools

This is our pond only a few weeks ago,

with our fake ducks floating in it.

It's our favorite place in the world to play.

It was central to our routine on most days...

the place we went first when we were outside,

and the place where we hung around the longest to swim and drink and mess around.

But we noticed a few weeks ago that our water was getting more shallow

and eventually we could only find a small place to splash.

Now it is totally empty!!!

WHO PULLED THE PLUG??? We do find nice stinky things in the drying mud, but there is no more swimming.

So now we know - our pond is not a pond at all,

but a vernal pool.
That means it's a pond that fills with melted snow or rainfall and makes you think you have a pond until sometime in the early summer when it dries up until the fall.

Since it can't support fish, it's a great place for tadpoles and frogs to breed without being eaten by fish.

Important part of the ecosystem, our butt! We miss our swimming pond!