Saturday, April 12, 2014

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.

Thursday, April 10, 2014

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!

Wednesday, April 9, 2014

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.

Tuesday, April 8, 2014

Ducks

Today's additions from Lake Mendota...
  • redhead
  • ring-necked duck
  • ruddy duck

Monday, April 7, 2014

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.