Saturday, March 19

Checkin' the Critters at Canyon Lake

Western South Dakota is currently enjoying above-normal temperatures; most of the snow is melted BUT I'm not fooled in the least...winter is not over, and the countryside is still completely dead, UGH. There's no point driving very far unless I'm gathering vitamin D, so I took another drive over to Canyon Lake to see if there were any newcomers about......



Walking the path by the lake, right off I found a curious squirrel....it started up the tree, then came down for a better look....



...It eventually had enough of the paparazzi treatment and headed upward...

Nearby some Canada geese wobbled away....


The ice on the lake had amoeba-like cracks.....


I didn't realize at first that I had this one shot of an exciting visitor...that's a hooded merganser in the center! Looking at both a local reference and the field guide, I'm not so sure it's supposed to be here...definitely a lifer for me!!  :o)


The common goldeneyes were about as usual...


Another new (to me) visitor, a snow goose! Not a lifer...That's a bufflehead in front of it....


Back at home...the European starlings arrived two-three weeks ago...3-4 of them sing every morning from the top of the poplar tree outside our bedroom window. The robins are back too, so spring must be near....we won't start seeing green until May however.... SIGH......

5 comments:

  1. No green till May !! Cant be right :-) Oh well, at least you got some exciting birds today :-)

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  2. Hi Jann,
    Hooded mergansers often late winter visitors at Canyon Lake, isn't he a beauty?
    I took a couple of those icy amoebas, too. Wonder why the ice forms like that, do you think something warm wells up at that point?

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  3. Those were large enough icicles on your previous post, which I missed Jann. Did you ever ID the footprint? I enjoyed the squirrel shots...he looks small,is he a young one? There's plenty of young ones here this year.

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  4. I love the pictures, but the hoodie is my favorite. I only see them once in a while. Last year I only saw one pair. They are beautiful.

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  5. I don't have opportunity to see many ducks around here, flat farmland. The Hooded Merganser is a beauty.

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