Surprises at Lake Temescal!

Squeezed in a quick walk around Lake Temescal over the weekend, it was super overcast when we started, but ended with the sun coming out. We started on the lower trail and only spotted two ducks. I talked to another hiker, and he said that they had just restocked the lake with fish, and that he was surprised there weren’t more birds. Until this point, I had only seen the two ducks…

It turned out to be a great little walk, we ended up seeing quite a few different birds! My kid lost his soccer ball into the creek and we saw another casualty not too far away, oops!

The two ducks were inseparable and swam together the entire time I was there. The black one is one of the most beautiful ducks I’ve ever seen. It was so iridescent and shimmery!

I’ve been here what seems like lake hundreds of times over the last 20 years and never really stopped to notice the birds… I’m glad I did today! I saw pied-billed grebes for the first time, they are so adorable and tiny, I thought they were babies. The American coot is one of my favorite birds, it’s just so cute and round, and I’m obsessed with its feet. There were two coots out on land so I had a quick chance to capture their feathery toes in all their glory!

When we finished our walk I saw a gorgeous kingfisher sitting on a stump right near the cormorant, but my freaking camera would not focus fast enough, and it flew away. One of these days I’ll get it!!

Today’s birds at Lake Temescal:

Cayuga Duck*	American Coot	Double-Crested Cormorant
Magpie Duck*	Great Blue Heron	American Crow
Mallard	Pied-Billed Grebe*	Great Egret

*New sighting!