Today, I went out to Blue Heron Pond and saw something I had never seen before – bluegill spawning beds. Male bluegills build these beds by scooping out the sand and gravel from the bottom of the ponds or lakes. After they are done, they start the business of attracting a female. He does this by circling around the bed and making grunting noises. Once a female is attracted to the male, the two of them conduct an intricate spawning dance.

After a while, she lays her eggs and then he fertilizes them. He then chases the female out and guards the eggs.

 

When I first saw these, I had no idea what I was looking at. Upon closer examination, I saw fish circling around in the middle of them, so I figured it must have been something to do with spawning….

The fun part about observing nature is that you can learn something fascinating at anytime.