The ice is out but the water is cold. If you venture out, wear a life jacket don’t just have one with you. If you fall into cold water, you don’t want to have to find and put on your life jacket!
Birds are coming back and the waterfowl are the first to return. Loons were back before the ice was declared out. They take daily trips from their wintering areas and look for open water. They really want to return to a nice lake! Included at the bottom of this page is a drone video of Mink and the Jockey Caps.
The mallards shown in the picture introducing this article are around, some never left the area and hung out by the Falls on the Smith River. Others, like Hooded Mergansers are just passing through but take time to feed on the lake.
Yes, the loons are back. They won’t nest for awhile but are starting to think about “territory”.
This is the drone video of some of the islands……