These videos and some explanation also appear in the chronicles for the respective ponds. They do not have sound.
Serene Swimmers of Austin Summit Ponds
Crowded Cohabitants of Smith Creek Cold Springs Ponds
Whizzing Through the Water While It Lasts
Swimming the Sweetwater Mountains
Back and Forth Life on the Edge of a Pond
Bouncing Acrobats of the Bodie Hills
Clay Dancers of “Carson Lake” Playa
Cruising the Clay-Water Boundary Layer
Digging in the Shallows of Soda Spring Valley
Life Below the Ice
Streakers and Twisters in the Bombing Range
The Southern Pancake Range’s Puny Populous Pond
Rambling ‘Round Some Hoof Prints in Railroad Valley
“Little Fish Lake” Valley Isn’t Just for Fish
Making the Most of the Mud Flats in the Owyhee
Choreography of the Clear Water Crowds in “Alkali Lake”
The Clay Days of Summer at Win Wan Flat
As the Pond Thickens in Big Smoky Valley
Serene Swimmers of Austin Summit Ponds
Austin Summit Ponds Fairy Shrimp Video 2021-04-23 Part 1, Toiyabe Range.
___Beginning the search in the big pond at Austin Summit. Found some eventually.
Austin Summit Ponds Fairy Shrimp Video 2021-04-23 Part 2, Toiyabe Range.
___Moved on to the little pond where the fairy shrimp were more abundant.
Austin Summit Ponds Fairy Shrimp Video 2021-04-23 Part 3, Toiyabe Range.
___The deep pond at Austin Summit has more water than the other ponds but I didn’t see any fairy shrimp, or any other animals. Do you?
Austin Summit Ponds Fairy Shrimp Video 2021-04-23 Part 4, Toiyabe Range.
___Had to use my net in the opaque water of kidney pond.
Crowded Cohabitants of Smith Creek Cold Springs Ponds
Smith Creek Cold Springs Ponds Fairy Shrimp Video 2021-04-23r, Smith Creek Valley.
___The water is too cloudy to take a video of the animals swimming in the pond so I put them in a white container for better viewing. There are not just fairy shrimp but cladocerans and copepods, too.
Whizzing Through the Water While It Lasts
West Northumberland Road Pond #7 Fairy Shrimp Video 2022-03-01r, Big Smoky Valley.
___A solitary but very energetic fairy shrimp kicking up a lot of clay.
Swimming the Sweetwater Mountains
South Sister Dead Cow Pond Fairy Shrimp Video 2022-06-22b-r, Sweetwater Mountains.
___A minute in the life of a female fairy shrimp swimming in clear water with various other smaller animals.
South Sister Hidden Camp Pond Fairy Shrimp Video 2022-06-22a-f, Sweetwater Mountains.
___One female doing some loops and other interesting moves but it’s hard to keep centered and in focus.
Back and Forth Life on the Edge of a Pond
Garfield 5890 Pond Fairy Shrimp Video 2022-03-14cm-r, Garfield Hills.
___Several fairy shrimp swimming back and forth to the edge of the pond where the opaque water is shallow enough to see them.
Bouncing Acrobats of the Bodie Hills
Beauty Peak East Pond Fairy Shrimp Video 2021-04-30a-r, Bodie Hills.
___There are lots of fairy shrimp in the very shallow opaque water and they are bouncing back and forth like there is no tomorrow. And maybe there won’t be. Or maybe they are just natural gymnasts.
Beauty Peak East Pond Fairy Shrimp Video 2021-04-30b-f, Bodie Hills.
___Caught some in deeper water with my net and they are bouncing around just as much.
Beauty Peak East Pond Fairy Shrimp Video 2021-04-30c-f, Bodie Hills.
___A close look at the busy activity in one very small part of the pond.
Clay Dancers of “Carson Lake” Playa
Macari East Stop Sign Pond Fairy Shrimp Video 2022-01-31a-r, “Carson Lake” Playa.
___Life is a dance and that seems to mean prancing through the clay.
Macari East Stop Sign Pond Fairy Shrimp Video 2022-01-31b-r, “Carson Lake” Playa.
___Males swimming close to the surface but the water is so opaque all you can see are their antennae II and the ends of their abdomens.
Macari East Stop Sign Pond Fairy Shrimp Video 2022-01-27r, “Carson Lake” Playa.
___This is a female in top form executing rond de jambes and head walks followed by grand jetes and tendus as it skims across, dives into, and jumps out of the clay layer.
Cruising the Clay-Water Boundary Layer
“Carson Lake” East Ridge Pond Fairy Shrimp Video 2022-01-31r, “Carson Lake” Playa.
___Gray shapes in the pale boundary layer at the bottom of a puddle with an occasional lurch upward and a puff of clay.
Candelaria Playa Ponds (northern) Fairy Shrimp Video 2022-02-28ac1m-r, Candelaria Hills.
___Dismissive of the clear, upper water layer, they plow through the opaque lower layer.
Candelaria Playa Ponds (northern) Fairy Shrimp Video 2022-02-28ac2m-r, Candelaria Hills.
___They may leave pale contrails as they power through the lower muck or ignite puffs of clay with a flick of the abdomen. Where they swim is also where they breathe and feed so what’s so great about all that clay?
Candelaria Playa Ponds (northern) Fairy Shrimp Video 2022-02-28cc-r, Candelaria Hills.
___Here at the very edge of the pond, they are a little more visible. How do they keep from ramming into each other? Or do they?
Candelaria Playa Ponds (northern) Fairy Shrimp Video 2022-02-28dc-r, Candelaria Hills.
___The lower clayey layer in this very small trough is alive with the motion of fairy shrimp. Are they playing bumper cars? Or maybe they are just crawling over each other in some kind of bisexual orgy.
Digging in the Shallows of Soda Spring Valley
Playa Wire Gate Pond Fairy Shrimp Video 2022-02-10b-r, Soda Spring Valley.
___Some scrape the mud with their legs, some roll with the flow as the water blows from right to left, and others go their own way.
Playa Wire Gate Pond Fairy Shrimp Video 2022-02-10cc-r, Soda Spring Valley.
___Still others have dug themselves into shallow depressions where the water is retreating and here they will die as others have died not too long ago. Is it the warmth of the sun on this winter day that has kept them at the edge of the pond for too long?
Life Below the Ice
Bass Flat Southwest Pond Fairy Shrimp Video 2022-02-09r, “Carson Lake” Playa.
___The net is resting on the ice and there is a fairy shrimp swimming under the ice next to it. Unfortunately, the fairy shrimp is just a blur due to the poor focus and murky water.
Stinking Springs Well Pond Fairy Shrimp Video 2022-02-23a-f, Rawhide Flats.
___Here is a fairy shrimp swimming under the ice over a rut in the pond. The video is very short because I deleted the parts that were out of focus.
Stinking Springs Well Pond Fairy Shrimp Video 2022-02-23bc-r, Rawhide Flats.
___This is a closer view of the fairy shrimp under the ice that is mostly in focus but the fairy shrimp isn’t moving much. It is generally head down with legs churning and only the end of the abdomen visible but jerks up once and stirs up a clay contrail on another occasion. There are also a few tiny black copepods.
Streakers and Twisters in the Bombing Range
Labou Playa North Pond Fairy Shrimp Video 2023-03-17ab-cr, Fairview Valley.
___Like the top gun wannabees flying above, the fairy shrimp have a repertoire of maneuvers, from fast, straight, streaking (with clay contrails even), to twists and loops, to sudden dives and flips.
Labou Playa North Pond Fairy Shrimp Video 2023-03-17c-mr, Fairview Valley.
___When 2 fairy shrimp get too close, the figurative sparks can fly as they may flip, twist around, or dive and then head off in different directions.
Labou Playa North Pond Fairy Shrimp Video 2023-03-17d-cr, Fairview Valley.
___With 10 cm (4″) of water to play in, vertical moves are common with fairy shrimp coming into view or disappearing gradually or suddenly.
Southern Pancake Range’s Puny Populous Pond
Easy Chair Crater Fairy Shrimp Video 2023-04-13a-cr, Southern Pancake Range.
___Numerous fairy shrimp careening around my little white bucket, where we can see them. They are joined by a shorter, darker, speedier water boatman.
Easy Chair Crater Fairy Shrimp Video 2023-04-13b-csr, Southern Pancake Range.
___Same fairy shrimp, same white bucket but shallower water and at half speed after 10 seconds to better see their fancy leg work and the surfacing water boatman.
Rambling ‘Round Some Hoof Prints in Railroad Valley
Raven Roost Reservoir Fairy Shrimp Video 2023-04-15r, Railroad Valley.
___Fairy shrimp persevering in the water remaining in the hoof prints that churned up their muddy pond.
“Little Fish Lake” Valley Isn’t Just for Fish
Squaw Flat Playa Lake Fairy Shrimp Video 2023-04-16-cr
___Fairy shrimp wheeling around my white container next to their lake, that flooded the road so I can spend more time watching them.
Making the Most of the Mud Flats in the Owyhee
Surviving Sagebrush Pond Fairy Shrimp Video 2023-04-28a-cr, Owyhee Desert.
___Fairy shrimp and a few ostracods navigating the murky to opaque water on a cow-free mud flat in the Owyhee Desert.
Tumbleweed Basin Pond Fairy Shrimp Video 2023-04-28b-r, Owyhee Desert.
___Energetic fairy shrimp sporadically visible in puddle with cream-colored water and green algae on another mud flat amid the silver sagebrush of the Owyhee Desert.
Choreography of the Clear Water Crowds in “Alkali Lake”
“Alkali Lake” Fairy Shrimp Video 2023-07-06a-cr, Alkali Valley.
___Fairy shrimp artfully dodging each other and the drowned vegetation as they slip silently through the water. Ignore the flies.
“Alkali Lake” Fairy Shrimp Video 2023-07-06b-csr, Alkali Valley.
___Pale gray fairy shrimp gliding above drowned grass, shadows, and the pale brown bottom of “Alkali Lake”, at half speed.
“Alkali Lake” Fairy Shrimp Video 2023-07-06c-r, Alkali Valley.
___Wading with the anostracans in the shallow margins of “Alkali Lake”.
The Clay Days of Summer at Win Wan Flat
Win Wan Corral Pond Fairy Shrimp Video 2023-08-24ab-cr, Gabbs Valley Range.
___Different sizes and perhaps different species of fairy shrimp from Win Wan Corral Pond swimming in my little white bucket.
As the Pond Thickens in Big Smoky Valley
West Northumberland Road Pond #8 Fairy Shrimp Video 2023-08-30a-cr, Big Smoky Valley.
___As the turbidity of clayey pond water increases due to evaporation and wind, fairy shrimp keep swimming, as usual, but giving them a white container to swim in makes them more visible.
West Northumberland Road Pond #7 Fairy Shrimp Video 2023-08-30b-cr, Big Smoky Valley.
___At some point, the clay in the water becomes so thick that the white container trick no longer works and you can only see the fairy shrimp when they swim close to the surface of their soupy pond, which they do from time to time. For a human, this might be analogous to running under water.