Ring-necked Duck

It's fishing opener in Minnesota, but the lakes are quiet today except for the whitecaps from the strong winds.  These Ring-necked Ducks were finding a little respite from the rough waters along our shoreline.

L to R:  Male and Female Ring-necked Duck

What a beautiful bill!

According to Ducks Unlimited,  the "ring-necked" name comes from a faint brownish ring at the base of the neck that you can slightly distinguish on the first picture. 

And this lonely Mallard seems like he's not really sure what to do and eventually swam off, perhaps to find another of his kind.

L to R:  Ring-necked male, female, and male Mallard

Duck recap from this spring:
Mallard
Common Mergansers
Hooded Mergansers
Ring-necked Duck
Common Loon

I wonder what we'll see next!

More Water Fowl

Female Common Merganser

Male Common Merganser

Tell me you don't think of penguins when you see this picture!

I'm getting tired of posting about ducks, but it's truly the only thing of interest to view around here these days.  Here are some pictures of Common Mergansers, though they are truly lovely birds and not "common" at all. Note there is STILL ICE ON THE LAKE!  Tomorrow we are supposed to hit 60 degrees, and if we do, I plan to hop in the canoe with my daughter to head to the other shoreline to see if we can pick out the nest of a bald eagle that was swooping over the lake yesterday. 

For now, I'm heading out into 35 degrees to rake up some leaves.  Brrrr.  I'm going to need to come in for some hot cocoa after that.  It hardly seems like late April.

Hooded Mergansers

One thing that I've become more interested in, especially after reading other MN garden/nature blogs, are the birds and waterfowl in our little corner of the universe.  This evening, I spotted a new duck that I hadn't noticed or paid attention to before, the hooded merganser.  Now that I know what they are, I'll have to pay more attention to whether or not they are frequent visitors to our shoreline.  If they are, I'm sure they're thinking what I'm thinking... man, it's cold, what are we doing here?!

Sounds of Spring

"Quack, quack, quack..."

Mallards along the shoreline in front of the house

That sound at 5:30 am really should annoy me, but the past few days, it's been music to my ears!  It means the ice is melting on the lake, that spring will truly arrive one of these days!  The sounds of spring are almost as delightful as the smells and sights.  There's a morning songbird that always reminds me of spring, but not being a birder, I have no idea what it is or how to even describe it's two-toned, high-low, sing-song.  But I know that whenever I hear it, it brings a smile to my face,and I just want to whistle right back!

Loony Visitors

This family of loons spent the better part of an hour in front of our house today looking for tasty treats under the water.