WOW - The Snow and Ice

When the temperatures are below freezing, or in the single digits, for several days, things freeze up pretty fast. A little snow can stay around for days, recording the goings of any creature that walks through it. Even birds can leave tracks larger than their footprints. I don't know what bird left these wing prints, but I hope it was successful in either catching some prey or escaping from a predator.

 Kentucky Lake is a large navigable waterway, so the middle stays open all the time. The diving ducks could hunt easily, but the dabblers who need shallow water had more trouble. If enough of them stayed together, they could keep a small opening in the ice from freezing over, just by swimming around. They often stayed with the geese who are bigger and better as ice breakers.

I worried about the Great Blue Herons who hunkered down a the edge of the ice trying to fluff up and keep warm. Other parts of the lake, miles away, might have some open shallow water, but not the herons by the state park.

A group of Sandhill Cranes landed at the Tennessee National Wildlife Refuge to graze for a while, joined by a flock of geese. The Refuge is surrounded by privately owned property and the owners set up private hunting clubs, so we heard gunshot throughout the day. Some of the decoys are very elaborate and must cost a bunch. These hunters aren't allowed to bait a field with grain, but if they leave extra corn out the rest of he year, the waterfowl know to look there in winter, not realizing that they may get shot on one side of the road, but not on the other.

The native hunters aren't restricted and can hunt where ever they like. Our group saw a coyote casually strolling across the ice. Bald Eagles sat on the ice looking for a wounded duck to catch. We heard stories from some of the birders who had seen bobcats going after ducks on the ice too.

 By Sunday, the snow was all melted, and the ice on the lake was receding quickly. It broke into regular sized floes, and made a noise similar to rustling leaves as the water beneath moved it around.