Category: Walk-About

While Jon was paying attention to  morning sky and taking some beautiful pictures of  the mist rising in the marsh, I was focused on the very long, thin worm in the pond.

When I first saw it  I though it was just a thin piece of grass caught in the current.   But I didn’t have to look at it long to see that it was moving intentionally, elegantly flowing in twists and swirls.

I took the video then watched the worm until it disappeared in the mud.  Only then did I try to find out what it was.

Thinner and longer than a piece of spaghetti, I googled… 12“long thin worm in pond.. and found that it best fit the description of a Horsehair Worm.

It’s called that because they were often found in horse toughs and initially mistaken for horse hair.  Horsehair Worms are parasites. When an insect such as a cricket or grasshopper eats their egg either on land or drinking it in the water, the worm grows inside the host feeding off the nutrients it takes in.

The most fascinating and gruesome thing I read about it is that when the horsehair worm is ready to live on its own,  “...it takes over the host’s nervous system, altering their behavior to make them actively seek out water.” This causes the cricket or grasshopper to jump into the water drowning itself.  Then the worm burrows from the host’s body, killing it (if it’s not already dead)  and lives its life in the water.

I’m still a bit stunning just thinking of the Horsehair worms lifecycle.  I wonder if I’ll see them more often, like the frogs, salamanders and crayfish,  now that I know they live in the pond and to look for them.

Zinnia and Fate are my companions when I walk in the woods.  They stick close to me, but not too close.

We are often interested in different things.   Although sometimes those things overlap, like when Zinnia finds a bone.  She wants to eat it and I want to see if its one I’d like to bring back to my studio.

When we get near the farm, Fate always runs ahead and shimmies under the gate to be by the sheep.  But if I take too long, maybe taking a video or watching a spider, she’ll come back to find me.

The garbage can in the barn had been empty since I used up the last of the kindling.  I just happened to look in it this afternoon, I’m not even sure why.

Hugging the side of the can, trying to blend in, was an opossum.

She was still as a statue, and my first thought was that maybe she was hurt.  But when I moved the can she moved, and to me she looked  healthy and whole.

She must have fallen into the garbage can and couldn’t climb up the slippery metal side.

“It’s okay,” I said out loud,  as I picked up the garbage can, “I’m not going to hurt you.” I passed Zip engrossed in eating his dinner on the hay bales.  He completely ignored us as I carried the can out of the barn.

I thought the opossum would run the first chance she got, but when I laid the pail on its side, she just sat there.  So I fed the sheep and donkeys and took a walk thinking if I left her alone she’d come out.

On my walk I found these tracks in the marsh. I think they may belong to the opossum, with those little star feet and line between them made by her tail.

When I got back to the farm the opossum was still hiding in the garbage can.

I imagine she was pretty frightened, and probably smelled the dogs too.   I left the can on its side so she could come out when she feels safe.  Maybe she’ll wait till it gets dark.

I don’t know if she lives in the barn, or maybe was trying to find a home of the winter and was checking it out. She’s about the same size as Zip, so if she does live there already, I imagine they’re used to each other.

Just because I’ve never seen an opossum in the barn before, doesn’t mean they’re not there.  I’m just glad I looked in the garbage can and found her alive.