What a difference one decade makes! This photo of sunrise over Lake Champlain at 5:55 AM on February 24, 2014 captures a typical midwinter perspective from Rosslyn once upon a time. Snow. Ice.
I think the last time that the broad lake froze was 2019. And at this advanced date, it looks increasingly unlikely that we will see a full freeze this winter. Lake Champlain has frozen in narrower and shallower regions, but five years is a significant stretch without fully icing over.
This next photo was taken on the same morning as the photograph above at 8:45 AM. The overcast lighting makes the photo considerably less dramatic, and more difficult to ascertain what’s what. But if you look past the maple tree (center), you can just barely make out Rosslyn’s boathouse, the “duck pond” that we keep open with an Ice Eater, and the Essex-Charlotte ferry, navigating its icy channel.
About that duck pond…
Let me start by saying that we don’t have a duck pond. We have a lake. Lake Champlain.
And although it pains me slightly to say it, we also don’t have any ducks. Not personally, at least. Lake Champlain, on the other hand, has plenty of ducks. And when the lake freezes and the ducks run out of water to swim and eat, we offer them a small “duck pond” in front of Rosslyn boathouse to tide them over until spring
(Source: De-Icing the Duck Pond)
But, no ice, no duck pond. And no mallard jacuzzi. And no bald eagle buffet!
In some respects an unfrozen lake favors the ducks and reduces my ethical / philosophical / environmental conundrum.
I am conflicted about this bald eagle and “sitting duck” situation. I am a big fan of the ducks… And I am also awed by the magnificent bald eagles which frequent the Adirondack Coast in winter. But one could argue that we are effectively manipulating nature by creating open water which attracts the wild ducks, causing atypically high concentration which favors the bald eagles.
(Source: Bald Eagle Breakfast)
So, no ice, no ethical dilemma.
But, no ice, year after year, is yet another reminder that climate change is effecting us in discernible ways (no ice, inconsistent snow) that undoubtedly and inevitably are the tip of a metaphorical iceberg. I suspect that there are plenty of less discernible changes happening in our environment directly related to these changing weather conditions, possibly triggering trophic cascades that we won’t understand for years.
Hhhmmm… midwinter meditation.
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