Ducks

Who knew there was so much duck-variety in TX? I guess when they say they fly south for the winter, this must be one of the destinations. I figure there were at least 4 species of ducks on the lake today. Now, I don't really know a whole lot about ducks, so it was kinda fun to watch them for a bit with the binoculars as they went about their business. Right away, I noted that there are two types: the bobbers and the divers. The Mallards (green head) are bobbers - they stick their heads in the water and let their rumps remain above water. The divers actually disappear as they swim around underwater searching out whatever it is they eat. From what I can tell, there appear to be two types of bobbers that were visiting today and two types of divers. One other thing I noticed is that you can easily distinguish the two types apart even when they are not diving because the divers ride so much lower in the water (see the pics - can you tell the difference?) By the way, for those of you who are astute enough to have been asking yourselves why you have only been able to identify 3 species of ducks in the photos, it is because I never was able to get a photo of the last type. Heck, after consorting the duck ID charts I see online, I am now wondering if it is some new or rare species? It had this crazy black and white beak that was very distinguishing...I dunno.

These ducks sure are wary of humans. As soon as anyone goes into the yard, they start swimming away and if you make any sudden motions or noise, they fly off. You can tell the photos I took from inside the kitchen from the ones I took after going outside because in the ones shot from outside, all the ducks are swimming away to the other side of the lake.

By the way, I was called as the assistant ward clerk today. As brother Huber noted, it must "run in the family."