A couple of posts back I mentioned the wood ducks that visited the pond. I’d like to look at them again in this article. I’d never seen this duck before. I was taken aback by the male’s colorful and almost comical look. But like a clown face, there was something kind of eerie about the overall patchwork of disguise. And the red eyes of this bird topped it off.
The duller female swam ahead of the male. The male stayed between the female and me. Her eyes had the same painted shape around them, but in white.

These ducks are smaller than the mallards which are much smaller still than the Canada geese, with whom they all amicably share water.I’ve observed the disposition, specific to timidness, that birds exhibit. A Canada goose, for instance, is not bothered by me in the slightest. In fact, if I wander too close to one, say within four feet, it will hiss a warning at me, its beak open as its pink tongue vibrates. I know I could startle it away if I needed to, but it stands its ground confidently otherwise.

The mallards keep a cool distance. They use to full advantage the fact that I can’t walk on water and they paddle twenty or more feet from the shoreline and me.

The wood ducks were neurotic in their uneasiness about me. I suppose it actually could be my four legged companion that has them more upset. In any event, they became frantic, noticeably agitated, as we walked along the path within thirty feet of them. They swam quickly to the ice and tried desperately to climb onto it. The ice was slushy and simply broke beneath their webbed feet. It was sad to watch their fear so I hurried us along and past them.

At the far end of the pond I was able to again get some photos but with the sun in front of me, the photos are not as clear. The photo above was the best I could get of the female. In my effort to do better with a picture of her, I walked one step too close and in a flash they were airborne. I’d scared them off, much to my sympathetic disappointment.

I don’t know if they’ll return or if I happened upon a chance stopover.