Single digit low temperatures overnight for the past couple of nights mean that the lakes are starting to freeze up, so the ducks and geese have moved to the open water on the rivers.
If the polar vortex hovers over us like it did last year, this open water on the Mississippi River will freeze over soon as well.
But some geese will leave here soon to fine some warmer weather to the south.
Sounds like a good idea to me!
Back Yard Biology 
Excellent advice! Even Chicago isn’t safe if the polar vortex sets in. I’ve been watching the smart geese doing a flyby and heading farther south… and have seen quite a few oblivious ones still sitting around on the grass in golf courses and cemeteries.
I marvel at what the birds and other animals “know” that we need sophisticated electronics to figure out.
I think we had three straight weeks of below zero nighttime temperatures last winter and I’m really hoping that it doesn’t happen again. That kind of cold can really wear you down.
Yes, same here. I, too, am hoping that won’t be the case this winter, but they are already warning of a return of the polar vortex. So…get out those warm woolies.
My birds were in quite a frenzy today, so we probably have cold weather headed this way too.
It’s strange that the birds get frantic in their feeding well before the bad weather, and then disappear for a day or two when the first bad weather arrives. I know they have sensory capabilities (for barometric pressure, for example) that we don’t have, so perhaps that’s the reason for this unexplained behavior.
Stunning pictures! The last one is definitely my favorite.
thanks, Lucy. It was one of my favorites as well.
Hi Sue,
I just sent you an email regarding permission to use the last photo on this post. I’ll copy the email here.
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Dear Prof. Chaplin,
My name is Andres Rivero and I am a PhD Student at the University of Bristol (United Kingdom). I am an aerospace engineer and my work is on adaptive airplane wings (known as morphing wings).
I am participating in a competition called Three-Minute-Thesis (3MT), where we are given 180 seconds to explain our thesis to a general audience. I wanted to start with a photo of birds changing their wings’ shape during flight, which is essentially what my PhD (and researchers in my area) is trying to achieve in airplanes.
I found this great picture in your blog and I was wondering if I can use it in my presentation (last picture of this post https://bybio.wordpress.com/tag/bird-migration/).
Thanks for your time and help,
Kind regards,
Andres Rivero
Andres, I did answer your email request, but it must not have gotten to you. You may certainly use the image you requested. I would ask that you credit the photo something like, “photo by Sue Chaplin, https://bybio.wordpress.com. Thanks for your interest and good luck with your presentation.