Dec. 1, 2019 - Sights from a trip to the lake

Rough-legged Hawks are regular winter visitors to Minnesota. This one was sitting on a utility pole along Hwy 73 as I was driving to our lake home a couple of weeks ago.

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This photo of the hawk in flight shows the white patch at the base of its long tail.

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Rough-legged Hawks have a colorful pattern on the underside of their wings.

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Trout Lake, near Bovey, MN, is close to our home so I often stop there to see if any interesting birds are on the lake. It’s a large, deep lake and is one of the last in our area to freeze over. That day it was still open and this branch sticking out of the water was coated with ice making it look like a frozen mushroom.

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I walked farther down the shore and took this side view of the same ice-coated branch.

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This pair of adult Trumpeter Swans was right by the Trout Lake boat ramp.

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By the 1880s, Trumpeter Swans had disappeared from Minnesota. The swan population in Minnesota has been gradually increasing due to a reintroduction plan started in the 1960s. Read more about this successful DNR project by clicking on this link. https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/eco/nongame/projects/trumpeterswan/index.html

SwanTrumpeterjuvenileTroutLakeBovey20191115