February 06 – My Nature Journal

This winter has been unseasonably (and in my opinion, unreasonably!) cold. I know personification of wild animals is a logical error but I can’t help but believe that most of the wild animals I spotted out on the lake today felt the same.

Most of the lake was covered in ice, some of it quite thick. The Canada Goose (Branta canadensis) and a Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) that was too distant for me to photograph successfully both landed on the ice and proceeded to peck it, appearing annoyed and perplexed by the solid mineral sheet. A flock of approximately thirty gulls (subfamily Larinae) hunkered in a tight group out on the ice, facing the gusty wind.

One Great Blue Heron, balancing on one leg and looking rather disgruntled with the state of affairs, finally unfolded itself and minced across the ice and into the shallow open water to fish. The Mallards (Anas platyrhynchos) and a single pair of Hooded Mergansers (Lophodytes cucullatus) seemed unaffected by the cold and paddled around, minding their own business.

Only the very center of the lake was free from ice. In the distance, an adult Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) flapped its majestic way over the open water, presumably scanning the water for juicy fish swimming dangerously close to the surface.