Sunday Strolling

Sometimes, I walk along the road by the bay as I wind my way up to the wetlands. 

Mergansers occasionally swim along the shoreline to provide a little entertainment as they look for breakfast.

These two girls were sporting very different coiffures, which made me smile. It's all about style!

While the bay was fairly smooth, the water at the marsh was glass calm, reflecting the trees from the opposite shore. Nobody was swimming, but it was quite peaceful.

A few fungi managed to overwinter successfully.

I'll have to watch and see if they keep growing, or if they are finished with their life cycles. I like the contrast of the smooth mushrooms against the rough birch bark. 

There's always something to see, isn't there? 
 

The Big Reveal

As usual, we start the reveal with a review of the clues. Here was Monday's mystery clue:

And then, Tuesday's teaser:

It's slightly closer, but the main subject of the puzzle is still pretty well camouflaged. He's just slightly above the middle of the frame and a little bit left of center on the trees.

Finally, here's the critter. It's uncommon to see these guys out in the middle of the day.

 And here's a closeup.

Porcupines are odd looking creatures, aren't they? It's interesting to watch them climb. They reach up with both their front legs at the same time, followed by both back legs hopping up behind. 

I hope you enjoyed the little mystery. :)

Tuesday's Teaser

First, we have a reminder of yesterday's mystery photo:

One puzzler commented about spotting the subject of this little mystery. So, I'll add another hint for today's installment, maybe making it a little easier to see. 

Did it become any clearer? Tomorrow will bring the reveal. :)

A Little Monday Mystery

Merry Monday! I haven't done a puzzler in a while, so I thought this might be fun. It isn't too difficult, but I hope you enjoy it. 

 What do you see? Other than a bunch of trees and sky, that is.... :)

Mallard Madness

This time of year, the returning ducks are quite a lot of fun to watch, as they team up and begin to nest.

A couple afternoons ago, I walked up to my favorite nearby wetland area to see who might be paddling around and enjoying the sunshine.

Madam Mallard was splashing around and enjoying a lovely bath.

Her sweetheart, on the other hand, decided he looked much more striking and attractive just allowing the sun to shimmer on his beautiful metallic green head feathers. He did look pretty impressive.

Other visitors were out on the water, too, but I need to sort through their pictures to see whether any might be blog-worthy. :)

Little Joys

Getting to watch the birds migrate back into the area (or through the area, as the case may be) is one of the little joys of springtime.

The pine siskins have flown in with the goldfinches and they are all voracious winged piglets that empty my feeders in record time. I think they try and beat their previous personal best every day!

The siskins are far more speckled than the golfinches, although they still have yellow markings to help them fit in.

In the picture above, you can see a group of goldfinches (two of them squabbling), with one siskin. Can you spot him? He's on the far right cup holding its own on the feeder.

Here you can see the highly speckled breast and head feathers to set them apart.

They chatter in the trees along with their finch friends and it almost seems like they're scolding me for letting their little feeding troughs get empty (seriously, I fill those cups two or three times a day and there are other feeders, too!).

Here's a view from the back, so you can see the wing markings.

Finally, here's a goldfinch in the process of putting on his breeding plumage to impress the ladies. He looks like he's wearing a harlequin costume, but he's already quite striking. Also, it's a really good contrast to the siskin above, should you ever need to identify either one of them at a glance. 

They may be small, but they're delightfully entertaining. 

And I've said it before, but pigs can fly...

A Superb Scaup

 This is the only scaup I have seen so far this year.

He's a very handsome specimen of drakehood, so I don't know why he hasn't attracted a girlfriend yet. I'm guessing he won't be alone for long.

After all, he keeps himself extremely well groomed and seems like an ideal mate.

If the light hits him just right, the feathers on his head glow a lovely emerald green.

Scaup are diving ducks, so I was happy that this fellow held still long enough for me to get some decent pictures. The divers usually disappear before I can get focused and then they pop up somewhere completely different and I have to focus all over again and yep, they dive before I get the picture taken. Yes, I'm slow.

It was a nice walk. Baloo and I used to visit this lake quite frequently when we had errands to run in town and the ducks always fascinated him (not to mention the muskrats!).