Drought Revisited

I returned to the Seneca reservation today where the pond that had dried up during last year's drought was fully replenished by this year's abundant rains. What was once a large pond decades ago is mostly filled in by grass and sediment, and I do not know if there is a feeder stream that would allow the pond to repopulate-at least not in a single year. I did not see any fish near the shoreline, although there may have been some in the deeper water. The late season asters and goldenrod were the predominant flowers, with a few bumblebees and yellow jackets still feeding on them. Along the trail were a red newt and a dead mole and some macintosh? apples. When I researched why an otherwise healthy looking mole would be dead on a gravel path, a likely answer focused on it being forced from its tunnels by rains where it then became vulnerable to predation. A fox or cat or owl would have dropped it after a single bite because apparently moles taste terrible. Another possibility is that, because of its high metabolism and need to frequently eat, when it came out of its tunnels it was unable to reenter for some reason and starved to death. Red newts in autumn travel the forest eating insects and spiders. This red eft stage lasts up to seven years after which they enter an adult aquatic phase and change to a darker color.