ducks

Our ducks are growing fast

I don't get tired of little ducks like teal. Two cinnamon teal on the left, blue-winged teal drake on the right.

Colorado, USA, May 2022

Harlequin ducks! Ohio, Feburary 2023

The Duck by Ogden Nash

Behold the duck.

It does not cluck.

A cluck it lacks.

It quacks.

It is specially fond

Of a puddle or pond.

When it dines or sups,

It bottoms ups.

I love finding huge flocks of ducks and picking through them to see which species are hanging out. This flock has gadwall, American wigeon, and a northern shoveler.

This guy has been in Pennsylvania for over a month now. The juxtaposition between this Florida-to-South-Texas duck and the Canada geese in the background is wild to me. While it was great to see one of my favorite duck species, the mottled duck is threatened in the south by genetic swamping by mallards. Some folks I've talked to estimate that we will no longer have pure mottled ducks in the next 40-50 years due to hybridization. This guy has a bit of white at the bottom of his speculum, but it's not too much for a pure mottled duck drake. I commonly identify hybrids, so it was wonderful to photograph this duck.

July 2023. Ducks are my people.

Finally I have something to post.

I tried to capture both ducks upside down eating. Found this funny.

This is a more recent picture of the backyard birds.

!