There's one and only one Cayuga duck at the lake. I know this because my friend Anne told me - she participated on Bird Count Day, where many volunteers get together and count every bird in the park (obviously). The Cayuga duck is quite large and looks black, but when the light shines on it you can see it is also iridescent green and purple. He (gender assumption) hangs out with a very large mallard, and Cayuga seems to have a following - about a 1/2 dozen brown-and-white caramel ducks. Cayuga and Mallard were hanging out, and they noticed a large piece of plywood. They swam over, got on, got off, and then back on with the Caramel harem ( yes, I'm anthromorphizing, so sue me). Alas, too much weight and the plywood began to sink. Nice to see them making good use of the stuff in the lake, since it looks like it will never get cleaned out.
Spring is bursting out - little snowdrops, crocuses, hyacinths all over. Nice, since it was a gray day. The lake actually looks quite empty since the ice is gone and the birds have dispersed. One swan over in the southeast corner, busily terrorizing all the geese who tried to share his little cove. The geese are ignored once they go on land - even if they're only inches away from swan.
Trash count: only 8 crack bags today, and no beer cans on the steps. Evidence of another chicken sacrifice by the lake - fresh bloodstains and feathers. The reasons I think it might be voodoo are 1) I know it happens in some Brooklyn neighborhoods and 2) back when I was a lawyer at Legal Aid and working night arraignments, I came out at the 9:00 dinner break to find a beheaded, beribboned chicken tied to the gate. Didn't scare me - as a defense lawyer, I assumed the person was going after the DA or the police, not me.
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