Category Archives: Lake Life

Life on and in Lake Champlain

Tundra Swans Visit Lake Champlain Area

Tundra Swans on Lake Champlain

Three tundra swans from the arctic tundra have taken up temporary residence in Lake Champlain and are drawing area bird-watching enthusiasts to the open water near Ausable Point State Park in New York. The birds that normally winter in the Carolinas have been seen for the past few weeks and are probably staying on Lake Champlain because of the mild winter and open water.

About Tundra Swans

Tundra swans are a bit smaller than the more common mute swan. An adult tundra swan will weigh in around 20 pounds, but are still a very impressive bird with a 6-foot wingspan.Tundra swans are much less accustomed to humans than other species, such as mute and trumpeter swans, and tend to shy away from a crowd.

 

Tundra Swans

 

Lake Sturgeon Thunder

Lake Sturgeon

One of the many interesting creatures inhabiting Lake Champlain is the lake sturgeoLake Sturgeon Thundern. It is one of the largest freshwater fish. Mature adults average between three and five feet in length and weigh from ten to eighty pounds, but can sometimes measure over seven feet long and weigh over 300 pounds.

The lake sturgeon has a torpedo-shaped body, covered with five rows of bony plates: one row on top and two rows on each side. The lake sturgeon has a sharp, cone-shaped snout with four smooth barbels on its underside.

People near water inhabited by sturgeon have reported mysterious sounds and vibrations, apparently caused by the sturgeon. Native-Americans in the Fox and Wolf River watersheds of Wisconsin have long associated this “thunder” with sturgeon spawning runs in the spring .

Here’s an interesting article from the University of Wisconsin Sea Grant Program about ‘sturgeon thunder’: Sturgeon “Thunder” Has Roots in Biological Process… (Read More) .….

Lake Champlain Wildlife

[contentblock id=2 img=adsense.png]

Lake Champlain WildlifeLake Champlain Creatures

 

 

[contentblock id=2 img=adsense.png]