What's Swimming In The Pond?

I was at Woodland Hills the other day, and I was at the pond, looking down at the water, from the bridge. The bridge crosses the pond at a narrow spot. The narrow area separates a large side of the pond from a small side. I happened to be looking at the small side, and I saw something swimming around in the water. Well, it was actually dozens of things. Take a close look at the picture. You can see them there in the middle. All those little dark spots.

At first, I thought it was tadpoles, but I keep reading that tadpoles are only around in the spring. That's also the last time I remember seeing tadpoles, so that matches up. It still doesn't totally rule them out. They look like tadpoles.

The only other alternative is a school of fish. Of course, that is also likely, because I know there are fish in this pond. To tell you the truth, I can't tell the difference between tadpoles and fish from that viewpoint, so that's as much as I know.

I guess there could be a third alternative. Maybe they're evil space aliens, come to suck out our souls. Nah, that would be crazy. ...Wouldn't it? You tell me.

Whatever they were, It was interesting watching them. They seemed to like swimming around one particular plant in the water. As you can see by the picture, they were staying together pretty well.

The really interesting thing is that they seemed to be able to see me, or at least detect my presence. Every time I would get close enough for my shadow to be cast over the area they were in, they would break their pattern and swim away from me. If I would move away for a minute, they would come back. I repeated this a few times to make sure I was right. It worked every time.

So the next time you're out looking at a pond, look for things swimming around in the water. Maybe they're tadpoles or maybe fish. Or they're evil space aliens, and they've come for you!