No, it's not Lake Lachrymose from A Series of Unfortunate Events; it's the western edge of Prospect Park Lake in January. Determined to keep my resolution for a second day running, and undeterred by bronchitis, I ventured as far as the water's edge for 10 minutes or so. Incredibly, joggers were stretching and running around in the dark and frigid morning. I detest the cold; I come to manic life during a heat wave, but cold is my Kryptonite. I'm actually scared of going out tomorrow, with wind chills in the single digits.
The shore had an austere beauty, though; the lonely little rustic shelter (above which robins nested last year) seemed to ache for spring. 
On an empty bench, someone had left this prized booty from Christmas morning; what had become of the gizmos they controlled? (I'm betting on an unintended trip to the bottom of Lake Lachrymose.)
As I observed the Usual Mallard Ducks, I heard a startling noise, akin to a schoolboy's "armpit fart" with a metallic edge to it. There, among the mallard host, was a feisty charcoal-colored lump of bird with a bright white beak. Back home, I looked him up and realized I had seen my first coot. One site described its call as "grunts, grating quacks, and hoarse chatters"; my bird book mentions "various cackles"; no one mentioned metallic armpit farts. I found no explanation of why eccentric old people are called "coots," but I did learn from a British birding site of "a peculiar spring frolic, known as the Coot Custard Fair, said to have taken place annually at Horsey a century and more ago. For the celebration sweet foods were prepared from an abundance of eggs collected from the nests of coots and black-headed gulls and, in all likelihood, other marsh and water birds." Yum--fishy custard! 
I have some extra warm things you could borrow!
Posted by: Xris (Flatbush Gardener) | January 02, 2008 at 11:28 PM
Love the coots.
I've been seeing them for months on the lake near the west end of the Wellhouse Drive.
(Also this funny duck (one of a pair) that I've been told is a hybrid of some sort: http://www.panix.com/~steveo/hiptop/quack-quack/ )
Posted by: steveo | January 08, 2008 at 01:23 PM