A Paddling of Ducks

There are a number of collective nouns for a group of ducks, but a paddling of ducks seemed just about perfect to me. 

When lakes begin to turn wet again, ducks will gather in large numbers wherever open water is available. In the picture above, you can see that the ducks are all congregating at the edge of a large sheet of ice. 

Ducks of several feathers paddle together as the goldeneyes, redheads and greater scaup keep a wary eye on a strange two-legged creature in company with a large four-legged creature on the shore. 

We were able to get quite close to the ducks, since there wasn't much open water and they had to either take to the air or allow us to admire them. 

Watching them, it almost seemed as if they fell into their migratory "V" formation, even as they paddled around in groups. 

Fair warning: you may become weary of ducks on the blog over the next few days. They're the newest arrivals in the neighborhood and it's been fun to watch their antics and try to get good pictures of them in action.