Photo by Chris Bosak
A foggy morning on Merganser Lake. A perfect day for a canoe ride.

I recently moved to a new place in Connecticut — about 40 minutes north of my former home. While I loved my former place with Long Island Sound and a nice park within walking distance, my new home is set in the woods with a lake right across the street and a smaller lake (big pond) a mere 10-minute walk through the woods. The trail to the smaller lake runs just beyond my backyard within 100s of acres of woods.

Much of my birdwatching, and thus many of my posts on this blog, will take place either at my feeders, in the woods around my house, or on the lake across the street. Those posts will be on the main page of http://www.BirdsofNewEngland.com, but also put on a special page entitled “Living on Merganser Lake,” a link to which may be found in the menu on top of any page on this site.

The lake is not actually called “Merganser Lake,” but for the purposes of this site I will refer to it as such. The smaller lake or pond behind my house will be referred to as Little Merganser Lake.

Why Merganser Lake? Hooded Mergansers are my favorite bird, so why not honor them by naming the lake after them (even if it is just a fictitious name). Common Mergansers and Red-breasted Mergansers are among my favorites, too.

Most of the postings under “Merganser Lake” will be about birdwatching, of course, but some posts will extend into other areas of lake living. I can’t wait to get “Living on Merganser Lake” in earnest.

For now, here are a few photos I took during a walk just this morning.

Photo by Chris Bosak
The woods of Merganser Lake in early autumn.

Photo by Chris Bosak
Little Merganser Lake in early autumn.

Photo by Chris Bosak
A good acorn crop at Merganser Lake.