Ice on the Lake.

3-5-17 SHORT HILLS: There was no snow here, but it was cold, in the teens, the last two nights and, possibly single digits, last night. Yesterday was very windy, and a bunch of new broken branches are littering the yard and shrubs. The partially open buds look OK now, but I expect some to turn black and die over the next few days after being frozen. The snowdrops and crocus that I showed in that last post were beaten up by the chill.

We dog walked with Lynn and Bill at Loantaka Park today when it had warmed up to about thirty. The lake is mostly frozen, pushing all the birds into the unfrozen parts. The mute swan is still there with a bunch of mallards and one, renegade herring gull, who was probably blown in from the coast in the wind storm.

Forsythia opened a few flowers before the cold weather, we’ll see if they were damaged. I’m sure everything will ultimately recover from the chill but I expect to see damage.

New blooms: forsythia.


The lake at Loantaka Park is three quarters frozen, forcing the birds, including the one mute swan, into the unfrozen parts.

A lot of mallards and a herring gull. This lake is probably about twenty miles from the coast.

Mallards napping in a shallow spot.

Red-bellied woodpecker in our yard working a maple tree.

Cyclamen surprised us in the sun room.

The crocus and snowdrops from the last post looking the worse for the very cold snap.