On the walk down from campus to the water front, I observed a lot of human footprint tracks. This makes sense because there are frequently people walking around campus. These tracks must have been made by someone taking a shortcut, because they weren’t on a path. It also appears that snow has partially filled in the tracks indicating that they were made a few days prior.
Here is a patch of ice seen on the walk down to the waterfront. This ice likely formed from the freezing and thawing that occurred during the warm temperatures of this past weekend followed by the single digit temperatures from the following Tuesday. It does not appear to have snowed since the ice formed.
As Figure 1 shows, human tracks were a frequent sighting. Human footprints were sometimes accompanied by dog prints. While these particular humans went on the walks that made these tracks, they brought their canine friends. When human tracks are seen with dog tracks, it makes me think that the person on that walk went for leisure, not to walk from point A to point B. These dog prints appear to have been made by a smaller dog.
Most winters the lake freezes over at least somewhat. As we enter March and leave February behind, the ice on the lake is beginning to melt, creating unique patterns. It is visible that the ice is mostly consolidated at the edges of the lake, likely because the middle of the lake is the last bit to freeze over and the first bit to thaw. This ice pattern is certainly an indication that spring is almost here!
Near the top of the tree there is what appears to simply be a spot in the photo. This is not just a mere spot, but a bird’s nest! As spring is underway, birds prepare to have their babies, so they make their nests in the late winter, early spring. This nest is just another indication that winter is ending and spring is around the corner!