ICY POND

Wasn't the snow pretty this weekend?  I loved the way it coated the ice on the pond and collected the crevices of the tree bark.

Pond in the Snow

I found that there were tracks in the soft, slushy ice.  From a distance, up the hill, I thought they were probably duck trails.  As I got closer, I realized that they were thinner than a duck would leave and some were short and right in the middle of the ice, and one started really thin close to the shore, then got a little bigger as it went out, then disappeared, but you could see a faint change in the ice beyond that.  I think it must be muskrat trails.  The trail that goes to the upper left corner, past the thicker ice, heads out the same direction that the muskrats frequently go.

Muskrat (?) trails

I watched a pair of black ducks land on the pond this morning.  Descending into the thick fog that was over the ice, they totally disappeared from view and made no splash and very little disruption in the water.  I only knew they had landed when the swam out of the mist. I am always amazed at how smoothly they land (in contrast with some other ducks!).  We seem to have a lot of black ducks at the moment; I'm seeing very few mallards in this part of the pond, but many blacks.

We also have the white-throated sparrows who have returned to our yard.  It's funny, but I rarely see them during the summer; mostly they show up in the cold weather.

White-throated Sparrow

Still lots going on out there, even though we mostly hunker down inside.