Tracks

A light snow fell last night leaving clear evidence of nocturnal visits to our pond.  I hadn't realized that the deer were coming right up to the water, but their tracks show that they are and that they aren't afraid to walk right across the bridge! 

Seeing these tracks didn't make me happy, but what really upset me was seeing some sort of bird tracks leading right to the edge of the pond.  I immediately thought of the heron that hangs out in the big pond near here; had he gotten so hungry that he came for a visit?  When we cleaned the pond last spring we realized that several fish had simply disappeared, perhaps lost to herons.  We strung fishing wire across the pond to deter heron visits, but it was ripped away in the recent icing of the pond and the subsequent  smashing of said ice by Paul and friends.  Clearly we will have to restring it.  

It looks like two different types of tracks, but they both end up at the water's edge. 

Paul would like us to buy a motion sensing device that sprays water out at any night time intruders that it senses.  I imagine it would do the trick, but I also think we'd get night visits from mischievous twelve-year-olds who'd enjoy the fun setting if off!