Saturday's Critters

Today, in an effort to see if anyone can identify a mystery duck, I'm linking up with Eileen's Saturday Critters!

As mentioned in my last post, I was down at our local marsh on Wednesday and was taking photos of the local troops of birds. There were a lot of mallard ducks, the turkeys are back, along with the Canada Geese. There were even three deer bounding back and forth across the path. But when I saw this unusual, yet quite pretty duck, I was stumped! Anyone have an idea of it's name? I checked a few online birding sites, but can't find him. I only saw one, and assume it's the male with his bright colouring.

As you can see, he's a bit bigger than the mallard, and here he is out of the water. I assume he's a "dabbler" since he was in with the mallards. Doesn't he have lovely markings?

Other birds I saw that day ... I love the friendly little chickadee and really enjoy taking photos of this cheeky little guy ...

Post marker for "Chickadee Trail" ;)

Even though I didn't have any birdseed with me (I know, everyone at this trail brings a bag!), the chickadees were curious (or hungry) enough to come to my hand. They would land, have a look around, but seeing nothing ... off they flew!

The turkeys seemed to disappear over the summer months, but yesterday I noticed they're back again and looking for that free handout. Last year they made me quite nervous when I first saw them running towards me on the path, but they were only looking for handouts, and weren't nasty at all. But those beaks are very sharp looking!

Such beautiful markings especially when the sun hits them just so.

And the three deer, first back in the woods keeping an eye on me, and then braving the dash across the path and back to thicker brush and safety.

One ...

... two ...

... three!

You can see the entourage that follows us around the beginning of the path!

Nuthatch

female Mallard duck

female Mallard duck

male Mallard duck

Cormorant

pigeons or doves? in the parking lot

Thanks for stopping by today!

Wendy