Wood ducks through a scope

This picture is a little old, but one of my favorites. On Labor Day weekend, Skippy, my parents and I took a walk to an out of the way pond. While Skippy explored, my Dad set up his scope and we looked for the ducks. Sad and disappointed after finding none, we packed up to leave. And just then a group of about a dozen ducks flew down. We got a great view of them. The males were still in their breeding plummage. Beautiful! I was amazed that my point-and-shoot camera could see them at all through the scope.

As always, I like to look things up: Wood ducks (Aix sponsa) are found in forested wetlands and nest in tree cavities. They are considered by many to be the most beautiful of all water fowl. They were hunted nearly to extinction in the early 1900's, but have recovered well and there are now well over a million in North America.