I've Got my Ducks in a Row

I began my day by arriving at the wetlands, walking in and setting up the hide under cover of darkness.  Across the marsh I could hear the chatter of geese and ducks as they prepared for the new day.  As the eastern sky began to lighten I could see their faint shapes moving about and soon two ducks approached close enough I could identify them as a pair of Ring-necked ducks.  Peering through the gloom I could see them looking my hide over quite closely.  Soon a pair of Canada geese approached and with much honking they swam back and forth and like the ducks observed my blind closely.

As the sun rose flock after flock of ducks and geese took to the skies apparently moving north.  The waterfowl that did stay in the wetlands avoided my hide, staying well concealed.  After three uneventful hours I decided on making a tactical shift and headed home to hook up the boat.  Within the hour I was launching on the local lake and shortly began locating waterfowl.  Loons, horned grebes, wood ducks, mallards, ring-necked ducks, red-breasted mergansers, and bufflehead were present as well as this group of Common Mergansers.  When I first located the Common Mergansers they took flight well out of camera range.  Later I observed a small flock of ducks circling and landing in a small cove.  Their new position allowed me to stalk to within reasonable range using the lake's shoreline as cover.  As I drifted around the point the mergansers appeared in perfect formation; finally I had Got My Ducks In A Row!

The moment was short lived as the Mergansers sprang into the air.  I focused the camera on the colorful male shooting continuous mode as he made his hasty escape.

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