Tuesday, May 5, 2015

What The Duck

How much wood would a wood duck quack, if a wood duck could quack wood? 


Be honest, what's my best side?


My left?

My right, right?

Alright, enough quacking jokes about ducks. Two Wood Ducks, Aix sponsa, flew up into the oak trees outside our attic window. Striking to see ducks in trees, especially such good looking ducks, I grabbed my great camera with the poorly-qualified*, 30 year-old Minolta manual zoom. This pair has likely been hanging out in the ephemeral pond in the back swale, and possibly nesting in one of our many dead trees. The female lays ten to fifteen eggs each spring, which means we may see ducklings at some point.

Wood Ducks are legally hunted in Minnesota and from what I understand, have a pleasant mild duck flavor. I don't think we'll be hunting our ducks, although hunting requests have been stacking up on the answering machine and sometimes at our doorstep. That, however, is a post for another day.




*all my bird shots are made with this combination, often through windows and screens, leaving us with useful if not stellar imagery of birds.






1 comment:

  1. He's really gorgeous! Hope you do get a little family to watch for a while. Wood ducks travel thru Virginia, but they stop well east of us, so we never get to see one here. Thanks for sharing.

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