I seldom hunt ducks or geese anymore, well not with a shotgun anyway. But there are a LOT of them here along the Columbia River, and I do enjoy watching them.

I've been trying to get photos of them flying low over the water, to get the reflection, and also of them landing, getting the water splashing. Managed both yesterday after a long wait on my mid-day walk:




Goldeneye ducks, swimming in the Columbia:




Mallards on a pond, about 100 yards from the river:

Those mergansers are cool! Least I'm pretty sure that's what they are.....I haven't brushed up on duck IDs since I was 17! Nice shots again! CL

Great pictures Guy, any idea which variety of Canada geese those are they seem to be a smaller version? We have a fairly large coastal version (think they are called the Vancouver Island sub species and are in coastal B.C. and Alaska) here but those seem like they might be the small Cackling Canada goose, I shot a couple of those little ones years ago and they tasted very good. Those ones were about the size of a large duck.

I dunno Gerry - they're a LOT bigger than the ducks.

CL - yes - I think that they are mergansers - and very cool to watch.

Guy

Those are excellent pictures, Guy. That is a classic picture of the Barrows Goldeneye ducks. They are certainly lovely.

I am so blessed to live here Dr. Mike & all.

30 min walk and I'm at the Columbia River, where I take most of my bird/wildlife photos. Or ten minutes in the Jeep cuts out all the walking on city streets.

Go the other direction, and 20 minutes walking puts me in the foothills on gated dirt roads or hiking trails.

Often, I just don't leave town for weeks at a time, finding that I can walk to wonderful beauty easily.

Guy