May 22, 2013

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Persistent drizzle; breeze from the north. A few mallards on the creek; a few more at the southwest inlet; red-winged blackbirds calling out from the brush. Scores of coots bobbing off the southwestern shore, several swallows flying overhead. Elsewhere a robin, a yellow-rumped warbler, a pair of grackles, a brilliant cardinal. Few people on the paths.

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May 20, 2013

Monday, May 20, 2013

Creek broad after recent rain; six male mallards parading in a line. Rough cloud cover bringing rain, some sun and blue sky; not many people on the paths. Large turtle sunning on a rock off the southwest inlet. Crow in a tree. A couple of dozen sailboats riding at anchor in the southern breeze. Peepers loud from the marsh north of the lake. Three pied-bill grebes diving off the western shore. Pair of wood ducks on the creek.

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May 18, 2013

Saturday, May 18, 2013

Creek running fairly high after recent rain. Some sunlight through high clouds; breeze from the south. Solitary mallard on a rock off the southwest inlet; blackbirds calling from the brush. Scores of coots diffusely spread out over a large swatch of water off the western shore, bobbing in the breeze. Two geese standing on the western embankment. Marsh on northeastern shore full to overflowing, loud with bird calls. Paths there busy; circling motorcycles louder than the landing planes.

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May 13, 2013

Monday, May 13, 2013

Creek somewhat murky. Blue sky, sun; high, thin clouds. Breeze from the southeast just raising white caps. A few mallards along the southern shore; blackbirds in the brush. Scores of coots and many shovelers riding the waves off the western shore. Pair of geese on the water, another pair trimming the grass nearby.

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May 11, 2013

Saturday, May 11, 2013

A pair of mallards on the creek. Flat cumulus clouds tiled across the sky, breaking the sunlight; good breeze from the northwest raising whitecaps on the lake. A few mallards along the southern shore; blackbirds calling from the brush at the southwest inlet. Two geese lee-side of the western shore; scores of coots and almost a dozen shovelers farther out. A few people on the paths. Eight sailboats at anchor. Yellow-rumped warblers in the brush along the northern shore; four horned grebes dotting the shoreline.

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May 10, 2013

Friday, May 10, 2013

Creekside more green than brown; a few mallards on the water. Sun, blue sky; light breeze from the west, bringing high, thin clouds. A few mallards off the southern shore; a few fishermen on the southwest dock; blackbirds calling from the brush. Many coots drifting in the lee of the breeze; two shovelers; one immature loon. Woodpecker sounding on a riddled tree. Two geese grazing on the lawn at the western shore. Concession open near the band shell; dispersed wedding party being photographed. One sailboat riding on a raft at anchor. Milfoil harvester anchored off the northern dock.

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May 5, 2013

Sunday, May 5, 2013

Scillas blooming in large swathes along the creek. Sunny, blue sky, few clouds. Many horned grebes and mergansers near the southern shore. Loons farther out. Several black-headed gulls. Goose swimming beyond the small island in the southwest inlet. Cardinals in the brush; a few yellow-rumped warblers. Coots off the western shore;prolonged calling from loons on the lake. Paths very busy.

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May 4, 2013

Saturday, May 4, 2013

Creekside greening up. Some blue sky showing over the lake. Great blue heron flying north along the western shore. Scores of horned grebes off the southern shore, scattered mergansers also. Three people paddling a green canoe. Dozens of yellow-rumped warblers on the ground and in the brush; a couple of yellow warblers. Goose on the small island off the southwest inlet, another goose resting on the shore. Scores of coots. More horned grebes and mergansers off the western shore. Two loons off the northern shore. More warblers along the western shore.

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April 28, 2013

Sunday, April 26, 2013

Creek running well; banks beginning to show green in the brown leaf litter. Clouds gathering in the west, shadowing the sun and bringing thunder. Ice-out on the lake, yesterday if not today; thin shoals of ice rubble, more than a hundred yards wide, carried against the northern shore by the southern breeze. Pair of wood ducks off the southern shore. Goose on the small island in the southwest inlet, another goose swimming nearby. Mallards and gulls scattered all around the lake, in the air and on the water; several groups of mergansers also, swimming and diving; and a pair of bufflehead. Red-winged blackbirds among the shoreline brush. Three loons in the middle of the lake, one of them calling, all of them diving. Another loon in a pool of open water near the northern shore, surrounded by broken ice. People at both beaches, the wind at the northern beach blowing warm and cool. Cardinal calling from the top of a tree. Paths busy.

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April 26, 2013

Friday, April 26, 2013

Creek coursing along. Cooler by the lake, still mostly covered with crystallized ice. Blue sky, virtually cloudless. A couple of mergansers off the southern shore; several buffleheads; a few pied-billed grebes. Goose on the small island off the southwest inlet; another goose standing near the shore nearby. Grackles scratching in the brush. Hundreds of gulls on and along the large melted pool in the middle of the lake. A half dozen mergansers with a few mallards off the western shore. Golden muskrat swimming and diving off the shore. Saucer-sized patches of bright green algae floating near the band shell. A few people on the northern beach, one wading with detection equipment. Several more mergansers. Paths very busy with walkers, joggers, dogs, bicycles.

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April 24, 2013

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Scillas and a few other plants just pushing through the leaf litter along the creek. Ragged grays in the sky and on the lake. Mallards along the southern shore; goose on the small island, another goose standing in the shallow water nearby. Solitary pied-bill grebe paddling and diving between the western shore and the thinning ice.

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April 23, 2013

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Creek running high and wide, one mallard on it. Blue sky, a few flat cumulus clouds, cool breeze from the west. Lake mostly whitened by another snow; growing reach of water along the southwestern shore; large open patch far out, ringed by gulls, a few in the air. Mallards near the southwest inlet; two geese standing in the water close to shore. Blackbirds in the brush.

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April 21, 2013

Sunday, April 21, 2013

Gathering drizzle. Robins scurrying alongside the creek. Gray sky, gray lake, darker gray stretches of open water along the southwest shore. Mallards in the air, on the ice, and on the water. Blackbirds among the brush. Goose on the shore near the southwest outlet, another goose resting if not nesting on the small island. Not many walkers or joggers.

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April 20, 2013

Saturday, April 20, 2013

Creek moving along; cardinals in the trees. Sunny; high, thin clouds; breeze from the south. Lake mostly white from recent snow, but gray at the edges and lined with open water along the southwest shore. Dozens of mallards on the water and the ice; goose on the small island off the southwest inlet, another goose standing nearby; crow pecking at a branch in the water. Outer path busy with walkers and dogs, joggers, cyclists; inner path still covered with snow.

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April 13, 2013

Saturday, April 13, 2013

Creek moving slowly, carrying a few mallards. Rough, gray cloud cover; breeze from the west. White snow on the lake, edged in gray ice and a few patches of open water in the southwest, busy with mallards. Paths dry. Four men off the north shore working holes in the ice, but not fishing; a square red flag with a white diagonal strip posted in the ice and flapping smartly. Bird calls from various trees.

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