As Lake Champlain freezes and thaws and freezes again, trying to create a seamless skateable expanse between the Adirondack Coast and Vermont, Rosslyn’s boathouse bubbler offers the wild ducks welcome refuge. It’s a veritable mallard jacuzzi! Or a bald eagle buffet? The shrewd raptors observe from the trees nearby, waiting…
Ducks at Dawn on Icy Lake
The sounds and sight of our wild duck neighbors enjoying the midwinter sunrise is mesmerizingly agreeable. Hypnotic even. So the sudden disruption of a predator upsetting this morning meditation is unsettling to say the least. But the bald eagle buffet is a fact of nature, right? And so I resign myself to the bittersweet battle at work in these bucolic moments.
Perhaps this video captures the mallard jacuzzi magic.
A cooold jacuzzi, but it’s the best match for these cold weather acclimated fowl. An icy bubble path to jumpstart the day (and keep these mallards alert to threats lurking nearby…)
Mallard Jacuzzi or Bald Eagle Buffet
While others have witnessed the baldies snatching confit de canard from the frigid “pond” in front of Rosslyn’s boathouse, I’ve never actually experienced it myself. But I’m keeping an eye out from my office, wondering if this will be the newest Rosslyn safari.
Have you ever seen ducks frozen into a pond?
Thanks for the reference in your post.
I will never forget the day my brother and I found these poor things in the ice.
Come to think about it I am surprised that they were not ravaged by Coyotes or wild cats.
Not yet, though our current “duck pond” may soon provide an opportunity. Fortunately we have plenty of hungry eagles, hawks, coyotes, foxes, minks to dispose of any frozen ducks! Thanks for your comment!