Raleigh's Lake Lynn Suffers During August 2007 Heat Wave

Lake Lynn is one of the most popular greenway trails in North Raleigh. It is used by runners, walkers, strollers, bicycle riders, roller skaters and, most of all, feeding birds.

The drought of 2007 has greatly reduced the water in Lake Lynn to the point where the ducks look like they are in a desert as they wait for the inevitable handouts of bread and crackers.

The drought has at least caused the competition to move to the deeper (I would guess cooler) end of the pond near the dam embankment. The turtles and fish need to stay where there is plenty of water. The boardwalk, however, must stay where it is in spite of the water heading south. It is true that during at least one hurricane a part of the boardwalk did move south, but that was not because of lack of water.

I visited the lake at noon on a day that was about 100 degrees without the heat index where the weather channel tells you it feels at least fifteen degrees hotter. The red skin on folk's necks and, in the case of one shirtless dude, the whole upper torso, was enough to testify to the heat.

Even the normal nesting birds in the trees seemed to have headed out for some cooler place to rest.

One brave cardinal hopped from branch to branch crying out plaintively. There were no responding calls from other birds. In fact, there were no other nesting birds like him. He finally gave up his desperate attempt to locate friends and flew off in the direction of the deep woods that surround Lake Lynn.

In places where the water was up to several feet deep, you can see only mud with thousands of duck prints. They apparently left them while the mud was still soft.

The number of ducks and Canadian geese waiting for handouts was just a small smattering of the original flock. I only saw four ducks and perhaps ten geese.

There was no sign of blue herons, white ducks, Egyptian ducks or sea gulls that normally visit the lake. Some of the ducks may have been staying in the shade. The gulls and herons probably know of cooler places to spend their day.

The trail around the lake is not being hampered by the heat yet. With half of the trail on boardwalks and wooden bridges, the extreme dryness may start to damage these as it has on some of the other trails, such as Middle Crabtree near Raleigh Blvd.