The sun rose at 5:57 this morning although you would hardly know it. The rolling fog steeped us in its dampness even before we rose. That brought me a shuddering stretch at the birthing of the day.
It has been so long since Alanagh, Molly and I have been at water and roadside taking pictures that we decided we would go this morning despite the light or lack thereof. “Sometimes,” I mused, “There can be some interesting shots through the fog.”
Scotch thistles are particularly lovely this time of year and when its purple mingles with golden rod the colours are gorgeous. These flowers are harbingers of fall, and so I was truly pleased to see a female Mallard and her brood foraging for aquatic vegetation, contented to have me enjoy them: a flash back to warm spring mornings. If the Mallard’s first clutch is early enough there can be another.
Mallards are "dabbling ducks” and seldom dive, and these beauties are the ancestors of almost all domestic ducks. Generally monogamous, males will frequently force themselves on other male’s mate.
This so called “extra-pairing” copulation is common amongst many birds and is often consensual. Mallard males, however, care not about a female’s consent. Pairing takes place in the fall and the romancing continues throughout the winter months. It is only the female, however, that incubates her eggs and cares for her brood.
When I hear an osprey call I must go to see, even through the fog. For not to look for the majesty once heard, would some how be a
sacrilege.
