I Believe I can Fly Too

This is the kind of grace a duck naturally has that herons seem to lack for the most part. This would be a nice posture for a wood carving. Here you can see the beautiful color of the speculum on the wing, although it has gone to violet rather than cobalt blue.

When filming flocks of birds, the photographer needs to take care not to release the shutter when one of the birds has it's head hidden behind another bird 's body. It is disconcerting to see a body but no head. It is better to wait for complete separation if possible, but it wasn't going to happen with this grouping.

Mallard ducks do like to talk. They also seem to be the happiest of the ducks. The female is the one with the familiar quack. Males don't quack but have a quieter call. Mallards become flightless during the molt in late summer.

Turtles and Ducks!

Here are three nonbelievers (I Believe I Can Fly?). If you enjoy comedies and have never seen it, you should check out the movie, "Bandits," starring Bruce Willis, Cate Blanchett and Billy Bob Thornton. There is a scene where Thornton is sleeping on a couch, suddenly opens his eyes, and loudly exclaims, "Beavers and ducks." It is the kind of off-the-wall humor found throughout the movie. He could have just as easily said, "Turtles and ducks!"

I don't normally like photos of birds taken from this perspective. Anyone looking up when a bird flies over is going to see the same thing. There is nothing special about it. I still like it though. It is a nice clear image of the under wing pattern which can be important to identifying ducks in flight. Maybe not close up like this, but at a distance it can be useful.