It was a fairly mild, sunny morning, only a few degrees below zero, mild enough that I only needed my light gloves. As usual when I go to Mud Lake I had a giant bag of sunflower seeds and peanuts with me for the birds and squirrels, but today they all had other things to do than to accept handouts from me. In winter it seems like the nicer the weather is the less interested the birds are in handouts. There were a few Common Goldeneyes in the river and at one point a lone croaking Common Raven flew over.
 
With little animal life to see, I thought I would walk out onto the frozen Mud Lake to get a different perspective of this familiar place from areas that are normally inaccessible to me (unless I had boat, which I don’t!). Here I stand near the decayed mound of vegetation (a stump?) in the middle of Mud Lake that a pair of Common Terns were frequently seen perched on last summer. The prints in the foreground are mine.