(no subject)

Surprised myself by walking in the park this morning despite temps below my 20F cutoff. Couldn't resist the sunshine on snow, and I'm enjoying watching the river ice up. Saw a flock of black and white ducks; assumed they were buffleheads, but took a few pictures anyway. Then I noticed an oddball, a brownish duck among the black, and snapped a few more shots. At home I confirmed that there were in fact two of the brown ducks-- and then realized that the black and white ones weren't buffleheads. Their beaks were orange rather than dark gray, and the pattern of black and white was wrong. A few minutes later, I confirmed that the group was actually made up of common merganser ducks, male and female.

This made me laugh, since I'd read this gem just last night, in a description of this species: "Male mergansers, along with other ducks, geese, and swans, have the distinction of beng among the few birds with penises...Male usefulness in the continuance of the species does not extend far beyond their penises."

( Pics back here )