January 3rd at Asylum Lake

As the new year started the lake was starting to show signs of a thin layer of ice coating some of the edges. December wasn't a particularly cold month. There weren't many days below freezing. As the year turned into a new one the temperatures dropped. The first few nights of 2022 were pretty chilly. 

My first walk of the year at Asylum was on January 3rd. It was below freezing that day and the night had been quite cold. The view from the 'beach' was quite lovely. The sun was shining. This has always been a favourite view of mine, but it's a little blocked from view since the beavers downed the trees in November of last year. 

I wandered down around the left side of the lake to a place my friend and I call the point. It's a little bit of land that sticks out between the large lake and a little offshoot of the lake. It used to have several trees along the point, but the resident beavers decided to build a lodge near the beginning of the point and promptly took down all the trees. 

There's sometimes a lovely sunrise view here in the mornings. On warmer days I sometimes sit on the downed trees and enjoy the sounds of the birds on land and the lake, but not in January in Michigan. Most mornings now I stay for a few minutes before I start to feel the cold in my toes and have to start moving again!

It was pretty quiet at Asylum Lake this morning. I could birds, but they weren't being very forthcoming showing themselves. I could hear woodpeckers drilling up in the trees, but only Downys, Hairys and Red-Bellied woodpeckers. No Pileated Woodpecker today. 

I did see some visiting Mute Swans as I walked through the woods and looked down on the lake. They were enjoying a spot of free water. There used to be a resident pair of Mute Swans at Asylum but I haven't seen them at all this past year. I hope they will be back or, better still, some native Trumpeter Swans. What a treat that would be! 

For this day I was happy enough to watch these five Mute Swans enjoying their visit.