Want to see Eagles?

For those of you who aren't lucky enough to see the eagles on the lake or are perhaps wintering elsewhere, checkout this website   

http://www.ustream.tv/decoraheagles

It's a live video of an eagles nest in Decorah, Iowa (yes that would be Hawkeye Land) There are 3 babies that have recently hatched. Enjoy.

IT'S OFFICIAL.....

Yes , it's now official, the block has dropped and the ice is officially out. The time was April 21, 2011 at 4:57pm. I actually liked it better last year when it went out before April even got here, but this is more like a normal year, even though it's a bit on the later side.This photo is an immature Bald Eagle that was sitting on the ice in front of the house. I think there may have been some left over fish from ice fishermen that may have been frozen into the melt we had, and that's what attracted him. He was being mobbed by several other birds at the time as well. Well maybe now we can think Spring!

Still winter.....

I just got back from vacation and was disappointed by the snow we got last Saturday. I think I'm officially ready for Spring,but never the less, it obviously isn't ready for me. The forecast is for more snow, but the upside is there are some widening holes in the lake. We already had Buffleheads and Mergansers skirting the edges and also a couple eagles landed on the ice and sat for awhile. Unfortunately, they were still too far away for even my long lens. Well..... maybe next week it will get here.

Winter's Not Quite Done.....

In case you hadn't heard, we are in the middle of a sizable winter storm. I guess we escaped so many this year that our number was up. I only took a few pictures from the warmth of my house, but what was lawn yesterday is winter wonderland now. It's about noon and the temps stayed cool so we didn't get the heavy wet stuff that was predicted. Lucky for us as that's what brings the tree branches down and causes the power outages. I filled the bath tub and made sure we had enough candles available last night, in the hopes that we WOULDN'T loose power. And so far so good. But it's still snowing and doesn't look like it's going to let up anytime soon. The winds were howling last night night and we even had thunder and lightening. And to think that just Saturday we had a nice walk down the road, that was snow and ice free and even dry! Winter can be such a tease....

Visitors out my kitchen window....

We've been watching 2 of these Pileated Woodpeckers for most of the winter, right outside the kitchen window. Joel sticks suet in the crack of the post every morning and by afternoon it's all gone. The Pileateds even helped out by excavating the crack to make it bigger. They're an amazing bird. Jean Kilbane called last Friday to let me know that she had spotted 3 wolves walking along the shoreline towards the east end of the lake. Unfortunately, I was gone or I would have been scouting the area with my camera. The lake is like glass right now, with all the melting and freezing going on. But it feels like Spring might be in the air, I don't want to say that too loudly in case I might jinx things! Have you seen anything interesting lately?

MARCH FLYER

Greetings from the Slightly Snowy North,


While all those around us have been enduring fierce snow storms, we seem to have escaped the worst of all of them. It gives one pause to wonder what might befall us next year. I have a special request for you this year; we are in the process of revamping our directory and including absolutely everyone on the lake. I have a committee working on this project and they are close to finishing. But I also need your help in furnishing the committee with any new updates you might have to make this project successful. So while you’re sending in those extremely well thought out and scientifically based Ice Out guesses, I’d like you to include your current information on the form below. We’ll appreciate your promptness in returning these forms as well. The goal is to have a new Directory by the June 17th meeting as well as encompass the entire lake in terms of education, maintaining, protecting, and improving the quality of the lake, its fisheries, and its watershed. Please send your dues…$20 per household, form and Ice Out guess to our Treasurer:

Mike Rolling

4707 Sternberg Ave.

Weston, WI 54476-2833

Since in the past couple years we have had uncharacteristically early ice out dates I have to change the date you need to have your guess post marked by to March 25, 2011. Good luck to all of you!

www.lakethompsonassociation.blogspot.com

Kathy

715-369-0340

nlight@charter.net

Lake Thompson Association Dues, Ice Out Guess and Information

NAME_____________________________________________________________

ADDRESS__________________________________________________________

SUMMER ADDRESS__________________________________________________________

PHONE____________________________SUMMER PHONE___________________

EMAIL_____________________________________________________________

MAILING PREFERENCE (address)_________________________________________

ICE OUT GUESS______________________________________________________

Lake Thompson History and Stories...

Frosty asked me to post that he still has copies of Lake Thompson History and Stories on hand. If you need a copy you can contact him at 715-369-0520. He will also have them available at the Annual meeting in June.