common_nature | Sunset and Goodbye to the Ice

Liked the squiggles in the sky from a sunset a few days ago.

We're in the 70s this week and all the ice has been gone since the start of the month. Here's the muskrat on the last bits of ice sheet already turning liquid.

We haven't had much snow this year but for a while it was cold enough to stick around. On this day there was bright sunshine all day and it was so strong on the snow and water one could hardly look at them.

Pretty surprised to see a bufflehead on our lake last month. We're nowhere near their winter or breeding habitats. Very small duck and as it kept diving, not that easy to get a good photo of, unfortunately.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

elisem

Good stuff! And a bufflehead, cool.

From:

yourlibrarian

It must have stopped in for a day during its migration!

From:

full_metal_ox

The way that the bufflehead’s angular silhouette-breaking black-and-white patterning fits smoothly into the jagged silvery waves of the lake surface has me wondering if dazzle camouflage might be at work.

Edited Date: 2025-03-29 10:14 pm (UTC)

From:

shadowkat

Lovely photos.

From:

yourlibrarian

Thanks!

From:

stonepicnicking_okapi

Lovely!

From:

yourlibrarian

Oh, I like your icon!

From:

stonepicnicking_okapi

Thank you!

From:

full_metal_ox

Your whole day’s rainbow from a single plant species!

From:

stonepicnicking_okapi

🤣🤣🤣

From:

adafrog

Pretty

From:

yourlibrarian

Thanks!

From:

full_metal_ox

Cue Edvard Grieg’s ”Morning Mood” from Peer Gynt Suite—AKA That Idyllic Orchestral Sunrise Song From A Zillion Old Cartoons.

From:

yourlibrarian

Ah, as it happens I got some wonderful morning pictures yesterday. Will make another post soon.

From:

full_metal_ox

And I wouldn’t have misconstrued the time of day if I’d read for comprehension.

From:

vriddy

Oh wow that sunshine and snow pic looks particularly incredible 🤩😮

From:

yourlibrarian

I really liked the look of the water. It was so bright in person, I wasn't sure what the camera would pick up.

From:

full_metal_ox

This scene is a gradation of phthalocyanine blues, concentrated in the two spots of brilliant cyan glare just upper right of center (ALIENS! FAIRIES! ALIEN FAIRIES!):

Edited (to correct a typo.) Date: 2025-03-29 10:31 pm (UTC)

From:

cmcmck

Nice pics! :o)

From:

yourlibrarian

Thanks! I had only taken a couple in the last month but the sunset reminded me to post here.

From:

shirebound

What beautiful photos! The weather is still a bit wacky here -- 80 degrees today, then back down into the 30s by Wednesday.

From:

yourlibrarian

Oh same here. 80 yesterday, rainy and 60 today, supposedly up to 70 tomorrow then down to 49...

From:

full_metal_ox

In southwestern Ohio, I long since learned to set out prepared for a combination Arctic expedition and African safari, particularly in the spring and fall.

From:

yourlibrarian

A wise choice! Weather apps only go so far. My partner was all ready to go for a jog this morning because the app said it wouldn't be raining for another hour. Not even 2 minutes outside he was back. Raining.

From:

full_metal_ox

The one I like, and keep bookmarked on my phone (which has Internet connectivity but isn’t smart enough for a lot of apps) is Weather Underground (https://www.wunderground.com/), which has the virtue of being crowdsourced. Some stations are in places you’d expect, such as schools, airports, and government buildings, but a lot are operated by private meteorology nerds from their yards (and my region is rich in retirees with the time and funds for Citizen Science.) What’s happening at Naples Airport at hourly intervals (as reported by NOAA) is all very well, but what’s barreling my way from up the street right now is a lot more helpful.

From:

semielliptical

Lovely!

From:

yourlibrarian

They were some nice sights 🙂

From:

turlough

Both the sunset and winter snow photos are beautiful! The muskrat is so cute and the buffelhead fascinating. I'd never heard of buffelheads before.

From:

yourlibrarian

Neither had we! At first because of its size and diving we thought it was a grebe, which we see regularly. But nope 😃

From:

pameladean

That's an unusual sunset and I am also ridiculously pleased to see your muskrat again. P.

From:

yourlibrarian

Susie and Sam are much more visible in winter, both due to backdrop and to sitting out on the ice instead of floating on the water. So it might be a while but they don't seem to be going anywhere 🙂

From:

pameladean

That is really extremely satisfying. We often see muskrats in our favorite state parks in the summertime, but not to the point of knowing they are the same ones. You do get to see young ones from time to time, though. My favorite sighting was when a bunch of them were perched on a steep river bank eating away at the roots sticking out of it. One was perched ON a root, and it ate its own perch clean away and toppled into the water. Not that that is a problem for a muskrat, but it was very funny.

P.