Well, this piece is about buoys and an eagle chick. Lake safety is important but it is nice to have a new eagle on the lake.
With regard to the eagle chick, adult eagles have been seen at the nest since last March when they started brooding. How they got through all the nasty weather, I am not sure but they did. The two April snowstorms just added insult to injury. In early May, one downy chick was seen but then until a few days ago, only adults had been seen at the nest. That was a good sign because they would abandon the nest if no chick was present but the chick didn’t seem to want to show its head. Now, it is looking like the chick is getting too big to hid although it will take another 4 weeks or so to fledge. The first picture is the adult with the downy chick, the second is the growing chick who seems to lie low in the nest.
With regard to buoys, there are a few things that you should know. They are there for safety sake so you should know their meaning. Knowing about them is just as important as having life jackets for every person on every craft (yes this includes having a life jacket that is attached to the board so it doesn’t blow off in a gust of wind).
As you travel the lake, buoys tell where the rocks are. At the same time, they should always be just guidelines as they the can be moved by ice. Also, some of the buoys seem to be riding low in the water either because of the high water level or their anchors being moved to deeper water by the ice. Remember, too what the buoys mean. You should stay north and east of all black buoys and south and west of all red buoys. Buoys marking rocks have white bands on them. Channel markers are solid color. The first picture has two channel buoys and one rock marker which is the southwest buoy on First Ledge. Remember, there are no markings on rocks closer than 150 ft from shore.
This photo shows buoys in the ice and when the ice breaks up, it can move the buoys. It doesn’t always happen because the buoys generally melt the ice around them so they slide down under the ice as the ice moves. 