February Snow

On Saturday morning February 4th we woke up to quite a surprise weather wise. During the night everything was covered with about 5" of fresh heavy snow. Since the weather forecast was for it to warm up and possibly rain later in the day we decided to try to get a walk in early. We drove over to Duram lake which is a couple of mile east of us.

Duram lake is about a 40 acre lake, actually more of a pond that has beaver dams that keep the pond level up several inches above the marsh to the southeast.

Here you can see some evidence of the small water falls that are created by Beaver activity

To the west of the pond is an upland hardwood stand that opens to the south an west into rolling fields.

To the southeast is a marsh that eventually flows into Backwater and Webster lakes which of course flow into the Tippecanoe lake and river system, which of course flow into the Wabash and Mississippi River. So this humble little watershed eventually ends up in the Gulf of Mexico.

The county road that use to cut across the Marsh has been closed for about five years. The old road bed still remains a path through a wooded area leading to the point where the marsh as over taken the road. Along the way there is a variety of trees, above a Mulberry below some white pine.

You can still see the old road bed, but it gets a little more over grown each year. I doubt that very many people even walk this path anymore.

Looking back to the west over Karen,s right shoulder you can see the barricade that stops vehicle traffic from coming any further.

Just beyond the woods to Karen's left the marsh opens up to the north. As we got to this point we could hear the flocks of Canada Geese and pairs of Sand Hill Crane making quite a racket. In the photo below just below the tree line in the distance is a beaver mound which is about 25' wide and 5' high. Just to the right of the beaver mound was a pair of Sand Hill Cranes that were really causing a ruckus. We would eventually spot at least six pairs of San Hill Cranes. They were all seemingly staking out their territory. The tree mass beyond the marsh below is an esker that has a board walk on it that we have walked several times.

I didn't have my good camera with me so the picture is a bit blurry, but in the center of the picture below just below the tree line in the center of the picture is on of the Sand Hill guys.

The picture below is looking back towards Duram lake to the northwest just beyond the trees.

Below is a red stem dogwood.

The photo below it looking to the east while I am standing near the low point in what used to be the county road. As you can see the marsh has taken over, Just beyond the water is the parking area for the board walk that heads up the hill into the trees on the left. We will be heading there next, but it is a 5 mile drive to get there.

Looking back to the west Karen is heading back to the car.

Along the way I spotted this Sycamore full of seed balls.

Over at the board walk man-made structures look very orderly in the snow covered landscape.

Even in the winter some tree hold their leaves, which offers a bit of color.

We were the only ones on the board walk that day so we got to walk into the unspoiled snowscape and only leave track on the walk way.

Looking out the west over the marsh we spotted our friendly Sand Hill Cranes still making a fuss.

Several flocks of Canada Geese were circling, which was probably why the Sand Hill Crane were so noisy. They want to let the geese know they were not welcome.

Here is a nice specimen White oak still in almost full leaf.

I tried to catch some of the geese as they flew past opening in the tree canopy overhead.

The Picture above is one of those puzzles where you have to find something in the picture that is not so obvious. See how may Geese you can spot in amongst the branches.

This was the last flock to land before we headed out. It was a nice walk.