Where Do the Geese Go in the Wind?

That was quite a wind storm we had overnight! Other than a lot of branches down, the park seems to have survived pretty well. Still, we might wonder what all of the ducks and geese that are on the lake this time of year did to deal with the wind overnight. Mostly, they hid out in a wind shadow.

A “wind shadow” is an area where an object, like our bluffs in this case, disturbs or blocks the full force of the oncoming wind. Last night’s storm brought high winds into the park from the southwest. The wind crossed over the park’s south bluff and raced across the water to the north shore and beyond.

When a strong wind comes in from the south, someone standing on the north shore beach will see a lake full of fast-moving white-capped waves racing toward them while the wind blasts sand in their face and roars in their ears. No one in their right mind would want to be out on the lake when it’s like that! Right?? Well…

If that person were feeling a bit crazy and decided to jump in a kayak and start fighting their way south, about 2/3rds of the way across, they might notice the waves getting smaller. With each stroke, the wind would start to ease down as well. In fact, once they got right up along the south shore, the water could be completely flat. They might feel nothing but a bit of a swirling breeze. This is the wind shadow. In fact, an experienced paddler who knows the landscape and the weather can often use wind shadows to make some distance or just hide when caught out on an otherwise nasty day. One little weidity of a wind shadow is that it can also create a wind coming from the opposite direction (Sometimes called a suction eddy…) which will hurry you or even hold you right in the calm spot! Cool eh!?

Now if you’re thinking that I just gave you a tip about paddling Devil’s Lake on a windy day… I may have! If it’s windy on the north end, it might be calm on the south.. or vice versa depending on the wind direction. The trick with Devil’s Lake is that it’s surrounded by hills on all sides and depending on wind direction, the wind can swirl around and come from unexpected directions at times. So no rule is absolute!

Oh wait, this was about the geese, wasn’t it?! Guess where they were hiding out this morning? That’s right! Tucked up tight in the southwest corner of the lake! Staying safe and warm in the south bluff’s wind shadow.