So Many Ducks Right Now

 

Today I worked from home, and there isn't much to say about that, but I do have a new comment about my plaid tam, from Cecil Markovitch: "It looks like the top of a jellyfish." Of course, he was saying that about the photo under blacklight, not from seeing me actually wearing it.

Travalon got more photos of birds from our dock today, Tux Duck and his mate, and a pair of hooded mergansers.

I love this photo so much:

Here are the hooded mergansers. The male has the black and white head.

Three male blue-winged teals.

Another pair of mallards. Tux Duck is a hybrid, probably of a mallard and a domestic duck.

I love this photo too:

And the cranes are back and dancing like crazy.

I saw an eagle fly into a nearby tree while Travalon was taking photos, but then we couldn't find it for him to get a photo. I ran into a neighbor who said on University Bay someone had reported seeing twelve types of ducks. Wow! Let's see how many we have seen off our dock:

1. Mallards

2. Common Mergansers

3. Hooded Mergansers

4. Blue-Winged Teals

5. Wood Ducks

6. Canvasbacks (been awhile)

7. Buffleheads

8. Northern Shovelers

9. Ring-Necked Ducks (Travalon took photos of these today, but they weren't clear)

So if they have seen red-breasted mergansers, goldeneyes, red-headed ducks, and scaups, all of which we have seen in the area but not from our dock (that I can recall), that would get you to a baker's dozen. And of course there was that pintail duck we saw at Cherokee Marsh, and we have seen other ducks at Horicon Marsh and Whalen Grade, like widgeons and gadwalls. Travalon has photographed all of these kinds of ducks. I'm pretty sure we even got photos of green-winged teals at Nine Springs. There sure are a lot of ducks migrating through right now! I love it.

Famous Hat