Spring is full of great sights and sounds. The song birds are singing their hearts out for us to enjoy. The loons are calling. the woodpeckers are pecking. The frogs are so loud they sound like birds chirping. And there was the sound of a lonely bagpipe in the woods. But, since I can’t share all these sounds with you here, I’ll stick with the sights in these photos.
I got to spend some time on the lake in the kayak over the last couple days. I have heard the loon(s) out on the lake and finally had one pop up in front of me and pose for a photo.
There were some signs of beaver activity just south of OCC and again in Horton Creek (the inlet). Why a beaver would take down a tree this size into open water, I don’t know. A couple of the branches were gnawed off just above the water level. I did venture up Horton Creek only to be stopped by a beaver dam.
Yesterday I ventured to the north end of the lake, something I don’t do very often. I found a pair of young eagles that stayed just ahead of me, flying from tree to tree. So great to see them on the lake.
Of course, there was a variety of other shore water birds including martins, redwing blackbirds, terns, and grackles.
The waters were, for the most part, quite calm, resulting in some very nice reflections.
There were very few turtles out this early. There were a few, especially in Horton Creek, but not many.
I encourage you to get out and explore the sights and sounds of spring.
Mark
Mark, those are beautiful photographs. I believe the birds that you identified as purple martins are actually tree swallows. Easily confused birds and both are beautiful.
Thanks for the correction. I do appreciate the feedback.
Very interesting Mark. We have a couple of trees on our property that were taken down by Beavers (directly west of Horton Creek, across the cove). They are not in the water, but are 30-40 feet from the lake.
As I mentioned in the post, there is a beaver dam a ways up Horton Creek. There was some other evidence of beavers as well. Is there really more beaver activity this year or are we just seeing it? Chris, the property I’m thinking of based on your description is land I thought was DNR land. Can you give me a better description? Send me an email if you’d rather not have it published here. Thanks.
A couple hundred yards south of the state land, the place with the underwater dock… There are two downed trees 50 or so feet off the lane and 30 and 100 feet north of the dock. One is visible from the land side of the dock. The other is hard to reach (very thick under growth).
Mark, thanks for sharing these amazing creatures and nature.
Thanks, Kris.
You sure do take beautiful pictures Mark.I enjoyed them all.I feel very blessed to know you & call you a special friend.Thanks so much for sharing these otherwise I’d probably never get to see many of these beautiful birds.
Thanks, Eleanor. I’m glad you like them.
always bring a smile! Thank you for sharing…..Celia
My pleasure, Celia. See you soon.