Icing called #phenology lake turnover

Small, shallow ponds and pools in our neighborhood are now covered with skim ice. Any remaining swans, geese and ducks are being concentrated on the open water  of bigger, deeper lakes and slow-moving rivers. Yesterday, we noticed several flocks of Canada geese rafted on the Sunrise river near Highway 36. They'll probably hang around until the fields are covered in snow deep enough that there's no feed to be gleaned.

shallow pond icing in early November

Photo by J. Harrington

On the other hand, even in the North Country, near entrances to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, larger lakes like Shagawa, were still ice free and being fished from boats and canoes last weekend. We didn't check, nor did we ask, if fall turnover had happened yet. Shallow lakes don't turn over, so their heat loss proceeds more quickly due to a limited volume of water.

deeper, larger, ice free lake in early November

Photo by J. Harrington

As far as we know, waterfowl don't know, or care, about lake turnover. They focus on whether open water is available. If the snow cover on local corn fields doesn't get too deep, and local lakes such as Forest Lake stay open, we won't be surprised to see November ending and December beginning with noteworthy populations of Canada geese still hanging around, making early and late in the day flights to feed, and giving some of us a thrill at how close we can live to the wild, even without actual wilderness.

                     Flathead Lake, October

By Geraldine Connolly

The eagle floats and glides,

circling the burnished aspen,

then takes the high pines

with a flash of underwing.

As surely as the eagle sails

toward the bay’s open curve,

as surely as he swoops and seizes

the struggling fish, pulling

it from an osprey’s beak;

so too, autumn descends,

to steal the glistening

summer from our open hands.

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