Winter is still two weeks away but all the lakes are buttoned up except Seventh. When you get three nights in a row that are zero degrees or colder the water becomes pretty solid. It sure pushed the remaining Canada geese south.
Some of the Snow geese have been flying over also. They are so pretty against the clear blue sky—just a V of white overhead.
Several Red-throated Loons trying to go south got grounded when they bucked up against the high winds that came along with a storm.
So far six have been reported, including the one by the Northern Logger that I mentioned last week.
Four were saved but two had to be euthanized due to injuries they sustained from landing on hard pavement.
One of the loon chicks born on Limekiln Lake got frozen in last Sunday and had just a small pond out in the middle of the lake to swim around in.
John Hamilton, who has a summer home on Limekiln, reported the bird out there on Monday morning.
The bird was so far out on the lake that you almost needed binocs to see it. I borrowed a gumby suit from Gary Miller, a Raquette Lake forest ranger, in an attempt to rescue the bird on Wednesday.
The overnight rains brought up the water level in the lake so it wasn’t safe around shore.
We took a boat and made it about a third of the way out to the bird before turning around as we had fallen through the skinny ice a couple of times.
We made it back to shore safely and without getting too wet. John watched the bird on Thanksgiving Day as it tried to fly out of the hole in the ice but it never got airborne.
We traveled to Webster to our son Jason and daughter-in-law Kelly’s house for our Thanks-giving Day family get together and feast.
The trip out that morning wasn’t too bad with just a few snow squalls in the Syracuse area.
In Webster they had about six inches of snow on the ground. The turkey was about to be put on the table when we arrived along with all the other goodies.
Grandson Nathan said the blessing and we all dug in and filled our bellies. At the end four pies graced the table and we nibbled on a few of them.
After we were all fat and happy our grandson Nathan played a Christmas tune on the piano and another one on his tuba. The tuba is almost bigger than him, but he did very well.
We said our goodbyes and headed back east and north. I set the cruise control when we got on the Thruway at exit 45 and never had to touch it until we got off at exit 33.
It was clear and dry sailing until we hit Rome where it was snowing like crazy. It lasted until the blinking light in Woodgate, but then it was cold and dry until we got home.
It was 29 degrees when we left Webster and nine when we turned into our driveway.
The next morning it was minus-six degrees so I called John Hamilton to see if the loon was still out in the open hole in the lake. He said it was but the hole had gotten much smaller.
He said the ice was much safer after the cold night so we went out again dragging the aluminum boat with us.
The loon had about a 15- by 12-foot pool to play in so it was just a matter of time before he came within range and I netted him.
The bird went under the ice several times but came back to the hole for air.
I caught him on the first shot with the net. We put him in a towel and placed him in a plastic bin, then went back to shore for a few pictures.
I checked Seventh Lake and there was quite a bit of open water over there. We took him over and released him off Rick LeClair’s dock. The bird made a few juvenile male calls before it swam away.
It was zero the next morning so I went over to check and see if it had gotten out. But he was still out there in a big patch of open water.
It made a couple attempts at flying but didn’t get up. I didn’t check today so I don’t know if he got out or not.
Many juvenile loons get frozen in their first year. Normally they can get up and out on their own by running in the open hole and get off the ice if the wind is in the right direction.
Grandson Jake’s first deer taken, but that’s another story.
See ya.