Why a Duck?

It's the time of a birder's year when the ducks are moving through.  They're easy to spot, just floating out on the water, and most of them are both beautiful and easy to identify.

You'll see more of them if you head down to the river. Hilary and I took a few days off and rented a little cottage on the shores of the Mississippi just south of La Crosse, Wisconsin. We had no way of knowing what the precise view would be, but it turned out to be superb, and the fact that the cottage was tucked into the base of a cliff, separated from the Mississippi backwaters by a noisy highway and two sets of railroad tracks, hardly mattered.  

We spent our first evening watching the sun go down. A few minutes later steams of pelicans began to arrive from the south in the twilight and settle into the backwaters of the river for the night. I would guess there were 400 of them all told.

The next morning we drove out through Goose Island County Park, where we got excellent views of canvasbacks, redheads, blue-winged teal, shovelers, and lots of scaup and ring-necked ducks. We spotted a few widgeons in the mix, too.

And let's not forget the humble gadwall. A very fine duck, its markings are so subtle that it often goes unnoticed in the crowd.

It was a fine getaway, further enlivened by brief hikes at Wildcat Mountain, Perrot, and Merritt state parks. A few wildflowers were blooming in the hemlock woods above the Kickapoo River. But all the park offices were closed, and we never got a chance to purchase a park sticker.

I should go online and order one right now...

Meanwhile, if the phrase "Why a Duck?" rings a bell, maybe this Marx Brothers routine has resurfaced from your stock of childhood memories.