Birds...

Usually I like a little duck hunting every year. Hunting ducks on an old slough is a family tradition and I would like to keep it going but seems I have not been all that mad at them the past couple of years to try and kill any. Last year was also a flood year which probably had my favorite places under 5 foot of water and this year the big catfish are biting. Also being another year older makes the secondaries to duck hunting which are lost, stuck, drunk, wet, broke down, and frozen less appealing. Maybe when the grandchildren are old enough to be my handlers on these type misadventures I will be more enthusiastic to go. 

What me and Cathy did do was walk the trail around Ellen Trout Lake. We called it exercise and being in shape is important for outdoor adventures whether reeling in big cats or trudging through the woods loaded with shotgun and waders which can be taxing for a fat boy like me. Cathy did a steady walk which is good but given the presence of birds I often stopped for photos. 

Here we have a snowy egret perched on the fishing dock. He's fishing and I am making a resolution to take my canoe to fish this lake sometime this spring. Signs warn of alligators but they are in the big lakes where I fish so big deal.  

Another egret. 

This old city lake, which used to be a place of Sunday water skiing in the 50s and 60s and as I recall had a ski jump ramp at one time is a stop over for migrating birds. I believe these are northen shovelers. May have come down from as far north as Alaska. They are filter feeders taking in water to get seeds, grasses and small water critters then jetting it out the base of the wide bill. 

Bottoms up. 

Turtles and cormorants. 

Lot going on here. Cormorants, blue heron and turtles. 

Canvas backs rafted up on the lake. They know just what shotgun range is and keep that distance between you. There are some tame ducks in the zoo but I believe these guys are all wild on the lake. Probably visiting from Alaska, Nebraska or Minnesota. 

The Zoo area is a great place in our city and judging from a article in this morning's paper on the "State of the City" we can look for more trails, bike lanes and outdoor areas in the future.