Light and Shadow
  • Home
  • The Rains Come
  • ecographs
  • Monochrome

Ice on the Levee (Sunday, January 26, 2014)

5/28/2014

0 Comments

 
Picture

The warm sunny day called me to the Brainerd levee, one of my favorite nature observation spots. It was well after 4:00 in the afternoon when I arrived and walked to the pond enclosed by a bend in the structure.

Absence was a notable feature this day. I saw few of the perching birds that normally dominate the skyline. No large flocks of American Robins or Cedar Waxwings filled the trees. One or two cardinals and a pair of Mockingbirds filled out the population, along with four European Starlings, strangely different from the huge winter flocks that often congregate on the driving range across the road.

As I reached the second bend, I was pleased to see large growths of mistletoe on the trees across South Chickamauga Creek, but the heron nests were gone. I remember one March day seeing a number of them sitting on nest. A Great Horned Owl with two chicks occupied one heron nest which it had claimed early that year. Neither Great Blue Herons nor Great Horned Owls graced the opposite shore on this day. The Great Horned Owl had surely nested elsewhere. She would normally lay her eggs in January.

Although open water was not totally absent, is was scarce. Ice covered most of the pond. In the open water on the far side I saw a flock of Northern Shovelers swim toward the shore in single file. Further on, two female ducks patrolled the icy water. A small group of Gadwall, two males and two females patrolled the open water near the shrubs. I am surprised these shrubs continue to grow, their roots in water soaked mud.

A flock of Green Winged Teal claimed the larger opening further down the shoreline. Though I saw no killdeer, four shorebirds worked the shoreline.

As I walked back to the parking lot and my truck, I noticed a small flock of Canada Geese crossing the sky over the levee. When I heard them call from behind me and turned to watch. Flock after flock followed. I would number them at 200 or so.

Starlings perch on cold branch
Ducks and geese patrol the levee
Depart when ice comes



0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Picture

    ​Archives                

    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    March 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    November 2016
    October 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    October 2012

    Categories

    All
    Environment
    Literacy
    Nature

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly