Sandy's Ducks

As San mentioned, we always have good intentions but wherever the day takes us is sometimes even better than we hoped.  The sun was high in the sky, we were on a street near the water and a park so the birds were singing and our anticipation for birding later that day was high on our minds. 

Sandy had laid out a beautifully set table where we had lunch and a nice glass of wine.  Sandy had put out suet in the morning to make sure there were birds in her yard for us to watch.  So after lunch we headed into her back yard to watch some birds.  Since they are right on the water they have quite a few ducks that were taking in some sun on their beach.  (By the way, Sandy had her husband blow out all the 'duck doo' so we could walk about looking in the sky instead of on the ground watching our steps.  Thanks Warren!)  So the first ducks we saw were the Muscovy ducks with a face only a mother could love.

Then we saw the mystery ducks.  Trust me we looked through every book we had and could not find this duck in there.  So here is a picture of the ducks we saw.  There weren't any differences in them so we don't know if they were male, female or one of each.  Their heads were a greenish brown color and the feathers were somewhat black and white.  So if anyone can identify them please let us know.  The consensus is they are a cross between Mallards and something else, what we don't know.


Overall we had a great day.   We were exhausted from having to play with Sandy's dog Chloe. Chloe is the cutest little Papillon that apparently loves to play fetch, tirelessly.  She would bring you the ball and place it at your feet, and stare at you pleadingly until you threw the ball.  Once you did you couldn't stop.  If you dared to stop she would bring the ball to someone else.  Finally the ball went into the water so the games were over (I think someone threw it in there on purpose, not sure who).  So we went back to lounging on the deck and the next thing we know Chloe had the ball and was waiting for one of us to throw it.  When the sun left the backyard we followed it around to the front of the house and lounged yet again. 

So even though there was a back entrance to the Bayard Cutting Arboretum just a few yards away we never made it into the park.  We want to thank Sandy & Warren for having us over, we will try birding there again.  It is definitely a great birding spot.  Sandy is truly a nature lover.