There was still some fall colour around: sumac seeds and leaves plus some bright yellow maples.
Depending on what website one uses for identification, these are either golden rod or asters. Personally I think the left one is golden rod and on the right are asters.
There were a few fresh mushrooms about
But the bracket fungus that I have been following for several months were no longer looking fresh and people had been breaking them off the tree. Only three of the original fifteen remained somewhat intact
The beaver had been active, although not a lot of damage along the trail has been done.
A good number of squirrels were letting passers-by know they were open to accepting handouts.
While not particularly close, maybe 50-60 feet further up the trail, the cooper's hawk was checking for prey within the scrub
There were two (?) great blue herons flying in and out looking for a meal in various spots
One took a moment to catch a scratch before catching a fish some 10-15 feet away
(I've never seen a heron catch a fish like that before, and it wasn't a catfish which is all I've ever seen them catch at Mud Lake. The fish has been unofficially ID'ed as a small northern pike)
The smaller birds were busy coming to hand, including some double bookings.
Nuthatch, chickadee, downy woodpecker
Someone had taken some time to build a feeding station for the birds; some flat stones wedged between branches with a moss and evergreen branch roof.
The Canada geese seemed to be staging in large numbers for the trip south
Ducks were in both Mud Lake and on the Ottawa River. Bufflead and scaup on left and common goldeneye on right.
American wigeon duck on the Lake
A few black ducks were mixed in with the mallards and woodies
Plus there was what seemed to be a mallard-black duck hybrid
(same duck as in left photo is top right in right hand photo)
While perhaps not as many woodies were in evidence, likely due to the construction on site, the ones that were there were happy to pose for photos and be paid in cracked corn
While the temperature was slightly above freezing, there was shoreline ice starting to form
