Lake Harriet Ice Report : March 17-18, 2007

[dreamshark]

Solid cake of ice from shore to shore. However, pools of water are forming on top of the ice here and there around the shoreline, and every now and then you come to a spot where the ice has melted away in a small area (6 feet wide or so). No ice houses, but one stubborn ice fisherman sitting on a bucket about 50 feet from a sign warning "DANGEROUS THIN ICE!!! KEEP OFF!!!" A few mallards rooting around in the mud next to the bike path near the bandstand. What are they looking for? Truffles?

And what on earth are they building next to the confectionary? (No, not the ducks, silly. The Parks Department.) It looks like a triangular car port with a pointy carbuncle on top. Awfully small and odd-shaped for a picnic shelter, but what else could it be?

Comments

[mizzlaurajean.livejournal.com]

That's what it is a picnic shelter. I agree so small. I thought that it was a stupid idea, waste of money and the open sitting area along the shoreline was nice just as it was.

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

They're wasting money building one at the Falls, too.

K.

[skylarker.livejournal.com]

Maybe something is sprouting under the mud? Roots/seeds from last years' plants?

According to Ducks Unlimited:
mallard ducks will eat a variety of foods, such as seeds, roots and stems of bulrushes, millet and smartweed, as well as waste grain like barley from farmers fields. They’ve also been known to eat mosquito larvae, midges and mayfly nymphs.