Migrating ducks have been traveling through the area. They land and hang around in huge flotillas.
Baloo and I took a walk by Boardman Lake and there were ducks zig-zagged all the way across the water.
Most of these are redheads, I think, but they had a few friends traveling with them.
It's hard to get close-ups, since the flocks are so far away from shore, so this goldeneye is a little blurry, but you can easily see who he is. I know it's not the best picture, but it was the best I could get trying to zoom in from that distance, so I wanted to share it anyway!
Closer to shore, the mergansers swim in smaller groups, often with a few mallards.
Here we have some merganser girls hanging with their gull pals on the pier.
This one is with her sweetie. People frequently mistake the male mergansers for loons, because of their black backs and white undersides - you can sort of see why, but if you saw the two anywhere near each other, there would be no confusion at all. Loons are a lot bigger, float lower, and have distinctive white patterning on their backs and necks - not to mention the loony red eyes.
They're pretty common along the shoreline, but I enjoyed watching this mallard swimming and dabbling in the light of the setting sun.
The sun made the water sparkle from time to time as the clouds came and went.
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