Monday, July 6, 2009

Owl Omelet

I was just looking up the Long-tailed Duck because apparently one has been hanging around in Long Island Sound nearby, so I wanted to be able to identify it if I stumble upon it. It's a startlingly beautiful duck -- it looks kind of like a toy, doesn't it? -- but what really makes me want to meet this duck is this entry in Peterson's field guide:
VOICE: Talkative; a musical ow-owdle-ow, or owl-omelet.
Pic by Wolfgang Wander. (Don't you just love the way it's eyeballing his camera with a kind of a "You looking at me?" 'tude?)

1 comment:

  1. Hello Vanessa
    I love the duck. Its flambotant tail freathers and exotic markings are too good for a duck. Dave was driving down Orange Grove Road, which sounds like a sleepy little street but is really a bit of a huge truck meets grid lock sort of a road during the week, when the B-Double (multi-trailered truck) came to an eye-watering smoky, breakes full-on stop. Why? To let mother duck and her 10 chicks cross the road. They live in Stable Swamp Creek which has been diverted under the road via pipes which the ducks don't like to use. I spotted them this morning, (a quiet Sunday on the road), so they're still alive a well. I'll try to remember to take the camera next time.
    Bye Andrea

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