No I'm not dead yet... Yeah it's been over 5 months since I've posted up. Life happens.
Spring has sprung. The 1st pair of Honkers was seen locally in the West metro yesterday.
Going into Winter, many ponds and small sloughs were dry to very low for water.
With the over 6' of snow here + the 2 rains of 2" this past month, there is hope we'll get some water back into the wetlands. But there is so much snow, many areas never froze, so a lot of the moisture is slowly sinking into the ground to recharge the severe draught condition soil in the SW metro. Which is a good thing, but there won't be as much run off to recharge the wetlands. Over all we've seen improved to much improved drought conditions
Will we get the fabled March blizzard in March? Or the 3 tornadoes in S MN like 6 yrs ago March 6th? We shall see.
If you gave not gotten out to do Wood Duck Box and Mallard Hen Nest maintenance over water, I suggest not waiting as the ice is highly variable this winter in the Metro. An ice chisel is mandatory, as are ice picks around your neck to get yourself out if you go through. As I've found many places with zero ice under the snow drifts.
How bad is it? A friend of mine, over 1/3 of his WDB over water he could not get too because of such poor ice conditions. So best get at it and be safe about it.