Generally overcast with a bit of sun shining through this afternoon. Periods of rain. Light to moderate winds and temperatures in the 40s.
When the sun peaked through this afternoon, I decided to go for a bike ride instead of a drive. My bike has not seen much use in recent months. I realized that until I rode it to the park last Saturday, I hadn’t ridden since last October.
Swan Lake remains over 95% covered in ice, but it is definitely thinning.
More than once I watched a Mallard struggle to get up on the ice. The thin ice at the edge collapsed under its weight repeatedly. Finally they would reach thick enough to support them.
I was interested to see three Ring-necked Ducks in the very narrow gap of open water on the north side of the peninsula. I’m not sure why they chose it over the much more spacious opening at the inflow (where I had seen the previously). Perhaps more food was available where the ice had just receded.
The pair of Hooded Mergansers was on the water in the larger opening when I arrived. I didn’t want to spook them, so I focused my attention more on the Ring-necked Ducks. When I turned back to look for the Hooded Mergansers, I no longer saw them.
The ice did not look uniform, and I was curious why not. A closer look from the dock made some of the differences more apparent. The main reason for the difference in appearence seemed to be how the ice was eroding.
Unfortunately, I didn’t pay enough attention to the paler looking ice at the time. It was only when I reviewed photos at home that I noticed the surface had more uniform texture than the coarser erosion features on the darker ice.
I had previously noted the some patches of ice had far more bubbles in it than others. I am not sure if those differences correlated spatially with the differences I saw today.
I remain curious why the ice eroded differently in different areas.
Still not sure where the Hooded Mergansers had gone, I was not quite ready to give up on them.
While waiting, I went back to the Ring-necked Ducks. I saw one of them had a very engorged leech on its right eye. I continue to be unsettled by the sight, but that did not stop me from getting photos.
By this time the male Hooded Merganser was back. I got a photo, though still hoped for better. Again not wanting to spook it, I drifted towards the larger opening.
A Mallard with a band on it was conveniently located so I could try to document the band numbers. (I was successful, and upon entering the band number learned it was banded near Wasilla last August and was not a hatch year bird.)
Once again the Hooded Merganser was gone, but this time I spotted him and the female in a narrow opening down the Lake Street shoreline. I did not expect they would tolerate me going down there, so I chose to wait.
As I waited, light rain fell, creating ripples the water’s surface.
The rain did not last long. Around the time it stopped a woman and her toddler arrived with food for the ducks. The Mallards which had been resting on the ice near the big opening moved over to the peninsula.
Perhaps wondering what was up, the Hooded Merganser flew over to the large opening. They stayed near the ice edge, but this was still close enough to allow me the best photos I’ve yet managed of a male Hooded Merganser.
They seemed to prefer to be closer to the dock, but would swim back towards the road when the woman and child went out to the dock. They did this two different times, with the merganser moving in tandem.
Finally the mergansers took off and circled around as though they might go to the upper end of the lake. I did not notice anything obvious at that time which would have spooked them.
I rode across the bridge and spent a few minutes looking at lichens on the mountain ashes near the waste water treatment plant. I had made an observation over a year ago which was recently given a name. I wanted to revisit and see if I could find it (or another similar one).
I think I was successful. It’s a small lichen and I brought some home to get a closer look.
The banded junco was in the yard again. I sent an email to Gwen (who banded the bird), and she let me know it was banded at my house 20 November 2019.
My iNaturalist Observations for Today
