A Great Blue Heron rests on one leg while retracting the other beneath its feathers for warmth. Perhaps it is contemplating all the fish it can't reach beneath the ice of Shadyside Lake, on which it is standing.
This is an unusual looking Robin. It was part of a large flock of 20 - 30 Robins that appeared suddenly in the tops of trees near Shadyside Lake in early February. We were alerted by their beautiful, and unwinterlike songs. They moved on quickly, giving us little time to photograph or enjoy them.
These Canada Geese were a part of a large group of several hundred geese returning to Shadyside Lake after a day of gleaning in farm fields around Madison County.
These geese are commuters. They leave Shadyside Lake each morning after sunrise and fly many miles out into the countryside where they look for fallen or missed corn and soybeans. They are too exposed in the fields to stay the night and return each evening to the protective waters of Shadyside Lake.
The number of these commuter geese increases greatly when the ponds they usually frequent in the countryside become frozen over. The many geese that congregate at Shadyside Lake are able to work together to keep one or more "ponds" of water open in the lake.