Frozen

It was a frozen and nearly silent world that greeted me when I went for my walk today near sundown. The sun peeked out for a moment here and there, long enough for me to get this picture of a common goldeneye, (Bucephala clangula). The goldies are cousins to the most adorable ducks in the pond, the buffleheads (Bucephala albeola).

There were only a few pairs of each of these diving ducks around for me to spot, along with a few merganser females, and only a very few pairs of mallards. The usual flock of mallards that hang out in the parking lot were absent tonight, as were the gulls and most of the Canada geese.

So, no loud quacks tonight from annoyed mallards. No shrieking gulls. No geese honking, and for certain not a single songbird on the wing. The only birds I could hear were fairly far out in the lake. Listening carefully, I could hear the repeated calls of the long-tails. (They always sound to me like ooo-ooodle-oo, with uptalking, like Valley Girl-speak, at the end.) The long-tails, formerly known as oldsquaws, (Clangula hymalis) are also cousins of the goldies. More on these beautiful winter diving ducks later.

In the meantime, I wonder how much longer can this infernal cold snap can possibly last? We’re halfway through February already, so the promise that is March is only days away, now. I can hardly wait!

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© BCP 2010