Dry July and August

Beth and I rode our bikes on a bike path on the Seneca resevation in southern New York on Monday,Sept 1st, where the Little Valley Creek had dried up upstream of the Allegheny River. Along that path we also passed a large mudpuddle that was filled with hundreds of fish that had been isolated from a main pond. Today I returned to that place and found road access about a mile away, so I walked in with a net and bucket and rescued several dozen fish to the deeper water. I was surprised to find large catfish gasping for oxygen among the smaller sunfish, and caught whatever I could to take to safety. Near the puddle was a great blue heron that had found easy picking among the trapped fish, so Nature's seeming 'cruelty' can be a blessing for another species. As a human being I followed my impulse to help, knowing that droughts are a natural pheneomenon, but also that they are being exacerbated by human climate change. UPDATE: I returned to the puddle today,Sept.9th, where what remained was a muddy pool about three inches deep and six by four feet wide. All but a few sunfish had been eaten by herons and raccoons, yet to my surprise four catfish ranging from 6 to 10 inches were still alive. I netted them and perhaps 3 smaller fish along with two dozen tadpoles and transferred them to the larger pond. With no rain predicted for the upcoming week, the few fish and remaining tadpoles will die.