Out Arizona Way

[ezdays]

Got part of one that I did a few years ago:

Ducks and such

This may be kind of a strange subject, but it's something that is part of the norm now here in our part of the desert.

One thing that always brightens our day is driving by the many man-made ponds and lakes we have here and to see the different kinds of wildlife that are hanging around. We have no idea where they come from, but for the most part, like many  “winter visitors,” they supposedly head back north during the summers. Still, there are a few that like it so much, that we are seeing a smattering of them all year long. Come fall though, and wow, there seems to be more of them than those people we call, “snowbirds.” We have Canadian visitors along with others from the colder states that show up about the same time as the ducks and geese do. Canadian geese, Minnesota ducks??? Don't know for sure, but they probably are following the crowd, coming in flocks. People come in motor homes and trailers while the birds do what birds do and fly here. The long neck geese are our favorites, flying from pond to pond. Sometime there’s just a pair, but most frequently, there can be twenty or so, honking as they fly by in a typical V formation. I don’t know if that’s their way of staying in touch with each other, or just telling everyone else to get out of the way. There are others, like the multi-color mallard or those tiny brown ones. Some even look black, although at a distance it’s hard to tell. We drive by one pond where there is this pair of striking pure-white birds and we always slow down and gawk as we pass. Seems that they like our weather so much that they are here year round. I looked them up and they are probably Peking, or Long Island ducks, although I though Peking Duck was… oh, never mind. Frequently, we need to stop and wait, since a pair and their chicks might chose to waddle from one side of the road to the other, I guess the feeding might be better there, or they have some aversion to the crowd of different ducks around the pond. Fortunately, the road is not heavily traveled that time of day and they can afford to take their good old time, and always do.

Every time I see them cooking duck on TV, I cringe a bit and go check to make sure all our little friends are still there.