Frogs or Ducks?

I spend an awful lot of my spare time down on the pier.  It is there that I can relax and ponder all sorts of things!  It is also there that I watch.  Nature never ceases to amaze and enthrall me which is why I enjoy watching it so much.  There is a never-ending show of critters about the Bayou!  The latest to make an appearance is the Hooded Mergansers.  Every year about this time, they will migrate in to ride out the cold of winter.  The Bay and Bayou will be filled with these tiny ducks!

I remember the first time I ever saw or rather really observed the Hoodies.  I was a teenager and was on a fishing trip with Pop.  He and I headed out one cold, foggy morning to catch some speckled trout.  Winter time is always the best time of the year to pull in the large trout and Pop was the best at finding them!  He knew every fishing spot in the Bay!  This particular morning, we had mistakenly headed to the boat at four in the morning instead of the normal five!  Pop had looked at the clock wrong!  He shook me out of a deep sleep to see if I wanted to go with him and, of course, I did!  Once we were out in the pitch blackness of the early morn, I heard a strange noise.  To me, it sounded much like a frog!  "Pop!  Why is there a frog all the way out here in the middle of the Bay?" I questioned.  He snickered a bit and shushed me.  "Sit still and you will soon see."

I waited and waited.  The sun started to rise but the fog was too heavy to see the shoreline.  The "frog" had now multiplied to many "frogs".  Their funny croaks had filled the area around us!  Then through the whiteness of the fog, I could see black dots swimming in the water.  Those crazy "frogs"!!!  Anyway as I said, that was the first time I had ever really noticed the Hoodies!  Before that day, ducks were ducks!  Then right before my eyes, ducks were suddenly not all one and the same!  I had discovered that there were many different types of ducks!  Beautiful, colorful ducks filled the Bay!

Since that foggy fishing trip with Pop, I have been interested in identifying the ducks that migrate to the Bay.  The Mottled Duck is the only group that stays to breed on the Bayou but come winter, the area is the home to many different types.  My favorite?  The Hoodies, of course!  They were the ones that got me interested!  Those pretty little ducks with the frog-like voices created such an intense fascination!