The lake that our home is situated on is Parke Lake. A "no wake" lake, it is a beautiful, calm lake. With the COVID-19 crisis this spring, working from home afforded me the ability to watch this sweet lake come to life. It amazed me how much wildlife activity occurred while we were mostly too busy to notice. It has been fascinating to watch as families of ducks with their ducklings emerged on the lake. Canadian geese came to the lake to hatch and raise their young goslings until the are old enough to fly. This year a new family chose our lake to start their young family on. Two beautiful swans came to Parke Lake and set up their home amongst the cattails. Daddy swan was always on the watch for paddle boarders, boaters and basically anyone that came within 6 ft of his hatching family. As Jim and I paddle boarded around our lake, as soon as we came within 20 yards of that nest, Daddy swan would swim out, talking us away from his nest, while mama swan sat regally upon her nest. A couple of weeks ago 6 sweet little cygnets (apparently the name for baby swans) emerged. Within hours they were swimming behind their parents. It is always amazing to me how so much of nature is moving and fending for themselves so early. Us, poor humans, can't walk for over a year, after we are born. As we have been forced to stay at home over the last few weeks, we have watched our new little families grow. There are now only 4 cygnets swimming with their parents which makes me sad. Apparently, the turtles in the lake steal these little guys for dinner. So much of nature seems brutal to me.
As beautiful as the lake is, as the aviary to these birds, they make for a messy dock. Our beloved Enzo, our Barbet, keeps his desire to have them stay off our dock known to them. Enzo will greet them with an endless bark until they move on.
