Nature Notes: Frozen creek and lake but thawing now

Last week my nature notes covered the first five days of the new year. This week I'll begin with day six and include shots from several different days moving into the second week of the year.

The first day I realized Shelley Lake had frozen, I wasn't even planning on walking around the lake.

It was freezing cold and the wind was 20 mph so I thought a short walk on the woodsey trail along the creek would be a better bet than around the lake.

When I saw that the creek and wetland part was frozen, I kept walking telling myself I'd walk until I got to where it was running water.

As it turned out the lake was frozen all the way across so I ended up walking around the lake not knowing how long it would last.

I knew that our daytime temperatures were going to get above freezing by the next week, for at least part of the week, and even when they were below freezing I had a feeling the sun would start to melt some of the ice. Normally the geese and ducks tend to hang out near the bridge on the right side a little more than midway up on the shot above.

However, with a frozen lake the geese had moved over to the top of the dam which you can see on the left hand side, midway up on the shot above.

Normally the only time I see them on that side of the lake is in the spring when they have babies and usually they are on the big fields with their babies wadling behind. It's rare for them to be walking on top of the dam. They were also down on the hills foraging in the little bit of remaining grass.

On another day when the sun had started thawing a little bit of the lake, I saw why it made sense for them to have moved to that side. The first part to thaw was the water around where the pipe fed water under the dam into the creek.

Much of the lake and parts of the creek were still frozen but I could hear cracks that almost sounded like muffled gunshots as some of the ice was breaking away.

I love winter and wouldn't mind some snow right about now but I do feel for the wildlife that has to adapt.

I know it's not easy dealing with the cold and ice when you don't have a warm house to go to.

Ever since childhood, I wanted to be a bird. The idea of flight and the freedom that brings are so appealing. Realistically though it's hard to be a bird.

Lately I've been able to photograph the hawk below a lot because he sits in my oak trees eyeing the bird baths on my deck. The birds that are normally there for the water I provide have been staying away because of the predator above. Of course he has to eat too.

For other participants, please visit the home of Nature Notes. Also, I'd like to mention that the host of Nature Notes has a beautiful blog with lots of good information about helping out the birds and wildlife as well as informative posts on a variety of topics. I've learned a lot from her blog.