PATHS ON THE POND ICE

"Linda! Look at the pond! It is covered with paths!"  What an odd sight greeted us on the pond yesterday morning (Jan. 8, 2015).  It was -5º, a light coat of snow on the pond ice, but there were these paths all over, going from one side of the pond to the other and back, crisscrossing, dead-ending, and near the shore, starting out very thin, then growing to the typical four to six feet across.  The paths looked like someone had been out there with a broom, but that clearly wasn't the case.  They almost looked like the wind had made them, but the wind wouldn't have blown the snow in different directions, in straight lines!  The paths weren't following the track of the brook and there were LOTS of them!  So what's up??

We speculated that perhaps the muskrats were swimming close enough to the ice that the water movement melted it some and then it refroze, disrupting the thin dusting of snow.  Dunno exactly, but I sent a picture (the second one) and note to Massachusetts Wildlife.  In just a couple hours I received the response below:

Paths on the pond

Notice how narrow the path is as it comes into shore (or leaves from the shore!)

"You’re probably correct in thinking these trails are left by muskrats and water movement.  Muskrats are active all winter long and typically don’t store a large amount of food, so they’re always looking for food.  This time of year they’re eating crayfish, clams, fish, and turtles, as animal matter is more important in their diet during the winter when vegetation is not as available. I’m sure there are multiple muskrats living in this pond that all have their own bank den, so that’s why the are trails all over. "   ("Wildlife, Mass (FWE)" <mass.wildlife@state.ma.us>)

She is right about the multiple muskrat dens in our pond!  And these paths were all up and down the pond as far as I could see.

This morning there were even more paths and even some round circles with clearly disturbed ice in the center.  It is snowing now, so all are covered.  It must have been just the right conditions over the last two days, because we've never seen this happen before (either that or we didn't see it because before retirement, when we were both heading off to work, we'd leave before sunrise and get home after sunset!).  

I'm glad to have seen this sight!