5/2/13 – Today’s Sawbill Lake ice report: 24″ of ice. We had freezing temperatures overnight, but the predicted snow did not materialize. The lake surface is frozen hard enough to walk on this morning. – Bill

Sawbill Lake Ice Thickness Technicians Leif Gilsvik and Tyler Campbell are bundled up for their work on the cold, windy lake this morning.

The continuing ice situation is starting to get to Leif.

A pair of Common Mergansers (aka the Sawbill Duck) wait hopefully in the open water by Sawbill Creek. The male Mergansers are only here for the brief mating season, then they continue north, leaving the females to incubate the eggs and raise the ducklings. Photo by Luke Opel.

Purple finches add a splash of color to the early spring landscape. Photo by Luke Opel.

Redwing blackbird coming in for a landing. Photo by Luke Opel.