No Fishing Allowed!

     I am quite proud of our backyard pond. It has taken me nine years to get the pond that I imagined when we purchased the house, but it is finally mine. When I first told Birdman that I wanted a pond, he thought I was nuts. (He still thinks I'm nuts but that is besides the point.) I knew that it would just be a matter of me being patient. After five years of gentle nagging (yes, I fully admit to nagging him) we dug our first teeny, tiny pond. Birdman would not agree to the size pond I wanted since he was having problems visualizing me idea. I figured a teeny, tiny pond was better then no pond. After the original pond was dug I never had to mention wanting it larger.  Birdman decided on his own that it needed to be larger. Over the past four years, Birdman has expanded my pond four times so it is finally the size I envisioned nine years ago. 
     We have tried to make our pond as natural looking as possible. I believe that we have accomplished that through the plants we chose, their placements and the rocks surrounding it. The butterflies, hummingbirds, frogs, and dragonflies all seem to agree. 
     The best complement we have received about our pond did not come from any of our friends or neighbors, though they all rave about it. It came from a Double Crested Cormorant. This is the bird that is most known for drying its wings by keeping them spread wide open. Well, we have a lake directly across the street from us that is kept stocked with fish. On a typical day you can spot one or two Double Crested Cormorants either swimming very low in the water with just their neck and head visible or standing around drying their wings. On several occasions now we have had one of them standing besides our pond drying his wings. This bird has stayed beside our pond for hours. We do not keep our pond stocked, so no matter how long the bird stands there waiting he will never catch a fish. Birdman and I believe that we have accomplished making our pond look natural when a bird is bound and determined to catch his meal from it.