The Incredible Shrinking Lake

Lake Champlain is 120 miles long. Right? Wrong! As ice carpets the lake the open water shrinks to a fraction of its former size, concentrating the flocks of waterfowl that refuse to move further south until the open water is reduced to zero. That time may not be far off. The lake is frozen solid from Thompson's Point south and from the Colchester-South Hero Causeway north.

I drove in to the Causeway from the Allen Point (South Hero) end last week. There was ice from shore to shore. Of course, the Grand Isle ferry operates all year and clears a track of ice water from Grand Isle to Cumberland Head. And a few ducks congregate in this slush and in the small patch of water around the outflow from the Ed Weed hatchery. Likewise, in the small pond behind the hatchery maybe 50 Mallards, Black Ducks, and Common Mergansers find sufficient nourishment to ride out the wintry weather. As Spring gets closer the variety of ducks at the hatchery pond will increase, but for now it is quite limited.

Which brings me to Charlotte. This afternoon I visited the Charlotte Town Beach for an hour or so. I estimate that there were over 2000 Common Goldeneyes congregated there. There were a few Bufflehead, Common Mergansers, and the omnipresent Ring-billed Gulls to be sure. But the goldeneyes ruled. Large flocks of goldeneyes flew back and forth 100-500 yards off the beach making a truly accurate count impossible. Were there Barrow's Goldeneyes mixed in with the Commons? Probably. Other less common species? Possibly. But there were so many birds clustered together it was impossible to pick out the odd Barrow's, Canvasback, Scaup, or Redhead. I was awed simply by the number of birds that I saw there. Maybe I'll return to Charlotte tomorrow to look for the rarities. For today I was satisfied to take in the majority of birds still holed up on the incredible shrinking lake.