Canvas Backs and Mud Dogs!

On the Bay this morning, there were ducks. Lots of ducks! I think the recent cold spell brought a lot of them in to spend their winter in the protected area of the bayous. That and my cousin sets out a delightful buffet for them each day. Today's ducks were Canvasbacks. This is a rather large duck that at first glance seems to have been put together by someone with a sense of humor. They have a very pale gray (almost white) body with a black chest and tail. Then to top it all off, they have a reddish brown head! Quite the paint job on these fellows! I found out something that I thought was a bit strange about these ducks..they are prone to lead poisoning. It seems that they filter seeds from the mud as a way of eating and in doing this they ingest a lot of lead shot from hunters. After eating enough of the shot, it causes lead poisoning that kills the bird. It seems as if the hunter kills a lot of birds without even realizing the damage being done. Hmmm..that is a thought that needs pondering. Perhaps something besides lead shot should be required for hunters. At least if the bird is hit by a bullet, it is used for food whereas if it dies from lead poisoning..a life has been wasted. Just a thought there.... In this raft there was quite a number of ducks but they stayed a good bit away from the pier. They don't seem to be as curious about me as the Hooded Mergansers. Still it was good to see so many of them.

After photographing the Canvasbacks as best I could, I wondered where in the world Ez, the dog, disappeared. She usually stays relatively close to me. I called for her. Suddenly, her head popped up above the marsh grass! She was nosing around in the mud for something..I am still not sure just what..but she was so proud of herself. My mud dog! She had mud spatters all over her head! I had to laugh at her in spite of the fact that I now had to wash a dog! In this cold weather that was not going to be fun..for me or for her! Sometimes I wonder about the sanity of this animal!