Thursday, February 2nd, was my designated lakefront morning because the forecast was for sunshine. The sun did eventually show up, but not in time for the local groundhog, who did not see his shadow and therefore predicted an early spring for Illinois. Conversely, the official national groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil, saw his shadow and predicted six more weeks of winter. If it’s six more weeks of what has passed for winter around here, it may as well be spring.

Down at the lakefront, ’twas all foggy and clouded over. Last week’s ice was all but gone. There was just enough for the gulls to walk on.

Gulls on the ice...

The crow could not find his shadow.

The geese could not see their shadows either, but they saw their reflections.

a patch of ice just big enough for two...

The mallard didn’t see her shadow.

Here she is sans reflection or shadow.

The skyline barely broke through the fog.

Let’s check back and see what winter looks like six weeks from now.

In the meantime, today was another cloudy day. I managed to get a picture of the local Cooper’s Hawk backlit against the grey sky.