Back to Appleton

We finally made it back to the Appleton Lakes to do a little fishing and look for the crane family. We put in at Little Appleton and I headed over to the nest site. No sign of the cranes but there was one unhatched egg on the nest. After two weeks it was clear that this was an unfertilized egg and the family had moved on. I was surprised nothing had come by and eaten it. I paddled around the shore line (the lake can't be more than 10 acres) and did not see the family, though with a two week old colt they could be anywhere.

I paddled down the creek connecting the two lakes and saw many damselflies mating, watched one laying her eggs on some vegetation in the fast moving stream. About halfway down someone had put a 2x6 across the creek as a foot bridge, and as the creek is too narrow to turn around, I had to push myself upstream backwards back to the lake. What a workout!

Leopard Frog

After some time on Little Appleton we moved over to Appleton Lake, a bigger and busier lake, and one with some nice shallows that the cranes love. The main group had already come in for the night and were gathered on the south shore, but there were two on the north shore, possibly a mating pair that had lost their colt, and I went to see them.

They did not seem to be bothered by me watching them, but soon after I arrived they seemed to hear something in the brush behind them. They started with their amazing call, then moved off down the shore, did a little jig, and went back to feeding.