Dear Rogers,
What type of animals live in the ponds at Rogers?
Sincerely Peaceful Pond
Dear Peaceful,
Many different animals call Rogers Center home. We see geese swimming on the top of the water and wandering around the grounds in spring and summer. Looking into the water you may see a variety of fish, or perhaps turtles basking on a sunny day.
Often the first animals people notice on our ponds are the Canada geese. They are loud, large, and there is a lot of them. If you take a moment and look just past the geese, ducks such as the mallard are seen floating around. The male mallard is easy to identify because of their dark, iridescent-green head and bright yellow bill.
When we look just under the surface of the pond, we see our fish that call us home. The smaller of the fish are often pumpkin seed or bluegill sunfish. On occasion you may see a largemouth bass or the elusive northern pike. While it may be unlikely to see them, as they are buried towards the bottom of the pond, bullheads are also found. The extra-large fish our visitors see off the bridge are carp. Sometimes we see them splashing around and they are always fun to see! In Cunningham Ice Pond we may have some trout who made it down from the trout ponds. There is a rainbow trout who swims under the bridge to the visitor center.
Do not forget about our amphibians and reptiles either! Snapping turtles swim around and painted turtles bask on the logs. Look a bit closer in shallow vegetation, green frogs are camouflaged inside.
Not often looked at, we have small critters living in our ponds called macroinvertebrates. These little guys are larvae that turn into the dragonflies and mayflies that are buzzing around right now. Presence of these type macroinvertebrates tell us that our ponds are clean and healthy, as they do not fare well in polluted conditions.
There are plenty of animals in our ponds at Rogers Center. From waterfowl, to fish, to amphibians and reptiles, to macroinvertebrates, many critters call us home. This is just our common friends we see at the center. We often have more who visit, or we see are certain times of the year. Come out to see our pond and everyone who lives in it while the sun is shining bright.