Yesterday Was a Duck Day

Yesterday I went down to Ballard Park and Gooseneck Cove, but there wasn't really anything new to shoot. But down on Hazard Rd. by the Cove one of my fellow birders, a kid who drives a truck for AAA, was taking a break from work and told me he'd seen some Harlequin ducks where Ledge Rd. ends at the Cliff Walk. LOL!!! So you know where I went after that!

Soon after I started out on the Cliff Walk from the Bailey's Beach end I saw these American Black ducks out in the little bay that the beach sits in:

A little further on I got to Ledge Rd., but no Harlequins. But just off one of the rocky points near Ledge Rd. this male Common Eider was giving me the wary eye. LOL!!! I'd just been complaining that I hadn't seen any adult male Eiders yet this Winter.

Walking along Cliff Walk for anothe half mile or so without seeing anything interesting, I came to the stone bridge in front of the late Doris Duke's mansion on Rough Point, and lo and behold! there were the Harlequins! Aren't they gorgeous???

Down the rocks and around the corner a ways I spied this female Red-Fronter Merganser. I took about 20 shots of her, slowly creeping up and taking another shot every few feet. I was afraid she'd fly off before I could get a decent shot. I actually managed to get about 10 feet away from her for this shot. It wasn't until I got home and fed the pictures into the computer that I saw what was keeping her there - look real close and you can see she's been hooked by a fish hook and some fishing line. She'd been standing there on that rock canted over to one side, which I thought was sorta odd, but now I see she was trying to pull free of the line. A little while after I got this shot a big swell came up and she floated off the rock and swam calmly away. I'm guessing the swell unhooked her!

A little farther on I went into the tunnel under Sheep Point, and on the other side was this male Goldeneye. I'm used to finding Goldeneyes in this little bay between Sheep Point and the tunnel under the Chinese Tea House, and I wasn'tdisappointed this time. either.

And those are my duck friends from yesterday's hike. I tried to do this yesterday as soon as I got home from the hike, but Gather was hiccupping and I wasn't even able to sign in, so it had to wait for today when Gather got its breath back. I hope you enjoy these!