Lemna trisulca

Wherein an aquatic plant almost moves too fast to be documented

Better known as duckweed. Fertilizer run-off from new construction is causing out-of-control blooms in the backyard pond every time it rains:

Before rain:

After rain:



Duckweed is actually used for aquaculture and to control run-off. It's better than an algae bloom. Completely covering the surface, on the other hand, it will probably lead to a fish kill.

When this starts to happen I've been paddling out in a kayak & scooping it up into pails to create a hole in it, at least temporarily.



Maybe ducks like it but I only saw them in Spring. There were a couple types I hadn't seen before so let's give the duckweed credit for something. There were (duck photos are not mine, possible mistakes as to ID of waterfowl are all mine):

a pair of Canvasbacks

and a Black-bellied Whistling Duck



As well as common geese and mallards. There are lots of birds in the area and a raptor center at nearby Hueston Woods State Park. In fact it was what appeared to be a hawk flying up one of the inlets and roosting in a tree along the bank that distracted me from offloading the buckets. 5 minutes later and I turned around to see the hole I'd created was already back to this:

Faint outline of a circle where minutes before there was mostly-clear water

Barely a dent - even the wake where I approached the dock on the left is almost gone