Happenings at the Lake

The other day painting at the lake I brought my camera down and nothing interesting was going on with wildlife stopping by or projects. I should have known that when the afternoon started out with Steve dressed in a sheet (Anyone else see the similarities between Grandpa Maynard and Steve?) it was going to be an interesting day at the lake Steve was pulling off the aging letters at the top of the steps he put up about 10 years ago. Why the sheet? He was cleaning the wood with bleach is the only explanation I could come up with... I did not ask the exact reason Steve decided instead of the letters by the light, he was going to put the old gate sign up off the perch. We had a sign hanging here until the 80's so it was nice to see the old sign being used again. It needs a coat of varnish to preserve it. Steve gets a thumbs up for this project While we were all busy with our projects at the lake, the loon came by for a little fishing. I am happy to tell everyone I saw 2 of them together. Notice the red by the loons foot just under water. I am guessing this is a leg tag. Both of our resident loons for the last few years have been tagged so we know they are the same pair. They have different combinations of color tags on both legs unique to each tagged loon by a loon researcher in Madison. I do not remember the color combo on the loons from the past years but I am hoping this is the same returning pair This picture is blurry but you can see the red leg tag better in this pic While the loons were fishing this canoe came by with a guy very interested in them. I am guessing he is one of the states loon researchers trying to get an idea of the loon population for this spring. He was getting close enough to check out the leg tags with his binoculars While all the loons were visiting more time was spent getting the blue pier repainted. I never realized how many nooks and crannies it had until I was spray painting it 70 degrees and great painting weather! After the loons left the Piliated Woodpecker announced its arrival loudly and luckily I still had my telephoto lens on and caught these pics. The woodpecker spent lots of time on the ground digging things up. I got closer to it than I ever had to this elusive woodpecker With all the visitors we had at the beach it is amazing we got anything done with painting. I also had a duck come swimming by looking for a hand out no babies in tow yet.