Family Time on the Lake

Spent a nice hour in a canoe, visiting with the Loons on the Madawaska River the other day.
The parents were teaching the youngster how to fish, and didn't mind an ex-teacher watching their technique.
Tempting the chick with food, then diving seemed to be the theme. Hard to see how such a fuzzy blob of feathers could actually get underwater, but it was quite good at going under the surface for a few seconds.






We tend to think that humans are the only ones with parenting skills. Watching these two work with their "kid" makes one realize that we are not the only ones!
I could even see them "giving advice" about being careful to stay a proper distance away from drifting canoes.
Nice to see that the chick was in good "hands". I hope it makes it to adulthood. With its good start, and some luck it will happen... already it is a bit bigger than when it was vulnerable to the odd hungry snapping turtle.

The Ice is Out... and the Loon is In

The Loon arrived on April 9, to find that there were only a few openings in the ice. He seemed anxious to get back home after his winter vacation. Even though the lake was ice-covered fewer than normal days, he still beat the thaw!
But he was right. On April 12. 2009 the lake was ice-free. It had been frozen for 126 days, slightly less than the average of 131.

See the graph below for more information, or visit my website for the lists of dates and other information.

[ http://dougdelamatter.com/website/science/environment/greenlake/greenlake.html ]

In this small land-locked lake, we can see a modest pattern of freeze & thaw that is consistent with Global Warming. In the past 25 years, the distance between the two trend lines is growing, showing that our summers are longer, but it is certainly not a consistent effect. That said, the three shortest winters have been since 1995.

(Click and pull the graph left to see the last years)

Cultivating the Visual Landscape

It seems that Surveillance cameras are sprouting up everywhere these days.