Back to the Woods Saturday afternoon. On a drippy cool afternoon I escaped doldrums and headed to the Woods for a walk. Four large white-tailed deer bounded or sauntered west along the Pipeline Trail into thick junipers for cover.
In the SW quarter along the Main SW trail I sloshed through acres of inches deep water mostly covered with a thin sheet of ice. Breaking through with each step, I wondered what the ice does to (or for) conditions below: temp(?) dissolved gasses (?) oxygen, methane etc, and life in the water.. young aquatic snails or amphibians hatching from clear jelly masses attached to submerged sticks & logs. What does the ice do to sound in the woods? Is it like the acoustic effect of a tile floor instead of carpet? Are deer spooked by and avoid thin ice, when normally they trot through 3-5 inch deep water? Does it change navigation for nocturnal vertebrates, mice, voles, shrews, skunks, raccoons, armadillos, opossums?
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