This morning I checked the blogs I routinely follow and saw a lovely picture of a Sole Duck posted by Joe over at Short & Tweet Bird Reports.  (You can visit his site by clicking on the link on the side of this page.)  When I saw his photo I thought, “I want to take some duck pictures too.”  So, despite the drizzle, I dragged my family off on a hike along the river.  Actually, this was already in our weekend plans, but seeing Joe’s photo made the outing all the more alluring.

While we were hiking we saw a beaver, a turtle, a couple of snakes, a heron, a cluster of cormorants (on a rock instead of their usual tree), some Canada Geese, and a pair of Mallard Ducks.  The ducks were busy primping and preening and refused to sit still so I could focus better!

I never realized that Mallards had a lovely patch of blue beneath their wings.

A lovely time was had by all!