Pond work with new excavator

[TxMN]

Getting a Kubota 033 mini excavator with 12” and 24” trenching buckets and hydraulic thumb. Want to use ponds banks to work through my learning curve. Contractor dug small pond adjacent to larger existing pond. I want to open up enough of the bridge between the 2 ponds to have them share runoff and water levels. Next I want to clean up the banks on these 2 and another pond a little larger. I believe they are all 5 yrs old or so. Our drought this year had all their levels down revealing about 5 ft of bank. Trying also to control vegetation growth, these ponds are watering holes for lots of wildlife, deer, coyotes, turtles, turkeys and geese.
with my luck, it will flood this coming week before I get the machine delivered, and it becomes a project for 2024 or after.
your thoughts and suggestions on such pond work. Is the soil I take out generally good for lawn and gardens, it is basically top soil that has washed into the pond.

 

[m7040]

A 36 inch smooth bucket will help and speed up scraping the pond sides being careful to protect the clay layer