Lake Ice

At least on the south shore of the lake, large chunks of ice have shattered and are moving out from the center. Notice the difference in the picture below vs. the prior pics of the ice sheet on Mendota in earlier posts.

view from Lakeshore Path

The ice is now inhabiting the "opposite" parts of the lake! The open water in the middle held Bonaparte's gulls and horned grebes today.

Thaw

This is a photo taken from about the same spot as a few days ago. The ice pack is now broken up, so there are some channels in the middle.

Lake Mendota

Coolest lake list addition today was common loon!

Open Water

The lake opens more day by day! The ice is thinning and receding quickly.

Today's new bird of the day was northern shoveler.

Ducks

Today's additions from Lake Mendota...

• redhead
• ring-necked duck
• ruddy duck

Lake Mendota

This is the status of the lake thaw this spring. The ice is gradually receding, though as you can see, leaves are still absent from the trees.

rain rolling in

Open water has brought some ducks: bufflehead, wood duck, gadwall, canvasback, lesser scaup, common goldeneye and hooded merganser so far.