I stopped at the Rockside Road parking lot in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park to take a short walk. I first went to the pedestrian bridge over the Cuyahoga River expecting the river to be frozen over. There were openings in the water; and, there were a couple of ducks taking advantage of them.

(For those not in the Cuyahoga County area: There is a pedestrian bridge over the Cuyahoga River that links the parking lot for the bike path along the old canal to the parking lot for the Cuyahoga Valley railroad station.)

There was a male common merganser upstream in a large opening in the ice. There was also a male goldeneye diving in the small gap in the ice just under the bridge. I was able to watch it dive from above from the bridge. 

The opening in the ice in the river at this point was only about four feet wide. And, the ice completely covered the river for a long stretch just downstream. But, the duck was easily negotiating the swift flowing water even when large chunks of ice flowed over the water. It was really cool to watch the duck from above at close range like that. I would walk back and forth from one side of the bridge to the other following the bird. It would look up at me with its bright golden eyes, too, in between dives.


Ken

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