The Daily Bucket is a regular feature of the Backyard Science group. It is a place to note any observations you have made of the world around you. Insects, weather, fish, animals, birds and/or flowers. All are worthy additions to the bucket. Please let us know what is going on around you in a comment. Include, as close as is comfortable for you, where you are located.
Tuesday afternoon was cold, blustery, and just plain nasty out so we chickened out on taking the walk we had talked about the night before. Instead we decided to drive over to a small conservation lake a few miles away and see if there might be any migrant waterfowl resting up on their journey north. It has a small flock of Canada Geese that stay there year round except during extremely harsh winters, and it isn't uncommon to see small flocks of ducks there at times.
As we pulled into the parking lot we spotted a nice sized raft of ducks sitting on the water, up against the damn, which was working as a nice wind break for them on this blustery day. They were far enough away that we couldn't get any pictures worthy of hanging on the wall but were able to get some good enough for ID purposes. In the mixed flock we saw three different species, Bluebills, Ringnecks and though they don't often flock with divers, there were also a couple of mallards mixed in with them.
We had been seeing small scattered flocks of bluebills for a few weeks already and we've had a few mallards around that stayed here all winter, but the ringnecks were the first of the year for us.
We watched them for quite awhile and then just as we were about to leave a pair of woodducks, also the first of the year for us, swam out of the back of a small cove. We took a few pics of them too, which also tested the limits of our camera's small zoom abilities. Then I made the mistake of trying to sneak up on them for some closer shots, but it seems that my stalking skills aren't what they used to be and all I accomplished was to scare them off completely.
So anyways, the ducks are on the move so you folks north of us, keep your eyes open, they're on the way.
Below the fold are some of the not so great pictures of our "fowl" weather friends.
Your turn. Tell us what you've been seeing in your neighborhood and give us a clue as to where that is. Thanks.