Winter Weather and Walking Among Birds

Well, the days have been alternately freezing-cold and wet... sometimes both!  Yesterday was three or four different weather days in one (rain, WIND, hail, thunder & lightening, WIND, showers, ...), but it was Christmas and we were all gathered 'round the tree or 'round the table at different times all day. And my brother went a little nutz buying me DVDs, so I'm going to have to clear another shelf on my entertainment wall. It was good.

This morning was dang-cold again (thick frost on all the rooftops and ice encrusting the bird bath, but no stalagmites).  Despite being dang-cold, it was nice and sunny, so I dragged Mom out for a bird hike with her new camera. We lasted less than two hours and didn't get any really close views of anything particularly special (except for all those doggies taking their owners for walks).

The Ruddy Ducks have definitely arrived for the winter. The American White Pelicans seem to be gone (but I did see one Brown Pelican). I got a couple of nice photos of Greater Scaups and Canvasback Ducks, so I'll probably shrink a photo or two down to web size and post them here one of these days.

About those Canvasbacks...

A couple of weeks ago, when walking along the same trail, I was hearing what sounded to me like shotgun blasts out on the bay.  I stopped the Ranger Truck going by and asked about it.  They told me that, while most -- if not all -- the private hunting clubs around the south bay have been bought up as nature preserves (with no more hunting), the navigable waters of the bay are still legal areas to hunt waterfowl.  *sigh*

And, now that I see that Canvasbacks are passing through, I see why I keep hearing the blasts.  A Fish & Game Biologist that led several birding field-trips that I've been on pointed out that Northern Pintail and Canvasbacks are the best eatin' of the duck-like birds. *sigh* again.

Now, if we could only teach the birds to stick to the non-navigable waters around the bay...