Near the bottom of winter, dawn comes late and low.

But where the sun’s elevation daily increases, open water wanes inconstant:

Some waterfowl, like the mute swans that now overwinter here, favor the pond so long as there beckons even a wing’s-breadth of open water, retreating to the rarely glassed-in river only when no lacustrine option remains.

–Though they still seem to prefer resting afoot over afloat, even adrift on a thinning island, perhaps to reduce heat loss or avoid attack from beneath. Others depart or pass over the 88-acre rink, like these geese headed toward Phoenix:

The life of a persistent (or over-optimistic, or flight-lame) wader with narrowed grazing options may be solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short, and with fisher, weasel and hawk just as hungry, potentially beset with fear and danger of violent death withal.

Good hunting then, tall walker, and may you evade the pursuits of others.