The red-winged blackbirds have been very vocal and they are probably complaining that the pond is still covered in ice where they often build their nests among the cattails. But with nights below freezing, they better not try to lay eggs yet until it warms up to melt the ice and snow.
No Nest in the Cattails Yet
Just an hour south of my place on Sunday had very little snow and some of the white seen on the water was trumpeter swans, but now those areas also have a new coating of snow too.
Before the Snow
Although it wasn’t above freezing this morning, the sun was bright enough to melt some snow and my pond has finally filled back up and was overflowing. But there wasn’t any frog croaking as the only sounds were the cracking of ice as the sheet of ice moved around, especially as the fall low water level ice layer started to float to the top of the flooded pond.
Full Icy Pond
The temperature today may have climbed to the mid forties, but with the lack of sun and the previous cold days, it wasn’t enough to melt the ice off my pond. I didn’t see much activity at the pond, unlike summer days, so it was rather quiet without the frogs and dragonflies.
Ice on the Pond
The drizzle lasted until late afternoon and the sun managed to peak out from the clouds as it was about to set. The trees were casting long shadows but where the sun had a clear path, it highlighted the trees displaying the changing colors.
Autumn Afternoon at the Pond
There probably wasn’t a lot of work done midday during the solar eclipse while people watched the progress of the moon covering the sun as there are about 12 million people who live directly on the eclipse path, which doesn’t include those who migrated for the day to view the event.
I didn’t travel to the total path, so the sun was only covered about 83% but with rain before and afterwards, I was just lucky to see even that much of the eclipse. The last total solar eclipse in my area was before I was born and the next one isn’t until 2099. Other total solar eclipses seem to be in the 60 to 80 percent coverage for my area with 1979 being about 90% in which the our sheep came in from the pasture to lie down like nighttime and after the eclipse, they headed back out to the pasture. The sunshine here looked like a hazy cloudy day as it didn’t get dark like in the complete total path area.
Total Solar Eclipse Day
The nice temperature and low humidity made today a very nice summer day, which people may have enjoyed some fishing, hiking or other outdoor activities if they had the day off from work.
Summertime at the Lake
The evening temperature was finally more seasonal and the frogs were singing up a chorus down by the pond. Even the tree frogs were adding their voices to the nature’s concert. I don’t if my tree frog was one of the performers or not, since I didn’t put a tracking device on him when I released him either.
Frog Performance
I took a walk around the field and woods this evening and spotted lots of birds enjoying the nice sunny day. Some bluebirds were busy sitting on their eggs, a yellow warbler looking for a place to build a nest, chickadees were in the apple blossoms as well as a hummingbird, two male orioles were chasing each other, tree swallows scolded me, the grosbeaks were eating sunflower seeds and the tiny wrens were singing up a storm. As since I was busy looking up, I almost missed a little fuzzy thing scooting across the pond. A baby wood duck headed for the grass where its mother was already hiding. I didn’t see the other babies tonight but I had spotted about seven of them the other day.
Wood Duck Hiding
Two little hepatica blossoms emerged but they were closed in the late afternoon when the clouds rolled in. The spring peepers were making their cheerful singing and a frog jumped into the pond, but I haven’t seen any tree frogs yet. Although maybe tomorrow it will be warm enough to release my house guest tree frog back to the great outdoors.
Floating Frog
