Charlie: If you are ever in the neighborhood, we can each have a pie. Life's too short for slices :bigbye:

When my Mom would make a meringue pie, she would keep all the egg yolks, put them in a glass with a spoonful of sugar, mix it up and I would ddrriinnkk it down. Salmonella? Not back then, apparently

Our immune systems were so much tougher before advertisers showed all those scary animations of "germs" to sell "sterilize your world" products.

The big surprise for me with my first lemon pie was learning that it is the egg yolk that creates the color of the pie filling. Silly me thought it was the lemons.

Cheers,
Jack

Charlie: Red Head ducks aren't normally around here in great numbers. This is a very different year. It is so wet and so much more available wetlands for the ducks/geese that I am seeing more and more species in numbers well beyond the norm. I have even seen four snow geese. I only see them during migration by the millions but never during mating season. Not sure if these four are just smarter than the millions or if they are just lazy or first go round and couldn't wait any longer.:rolleyes:

Here are some recent shots from the past few days. I find "in flight" tough shots. Far tougher with the camera than the Parker. The Red Head flock is about 400 yards. I would put the mallard "touch down" around 200 yards, as well as the three RedHeads in flight. The swimming RedHead pair is about 100 yards. Any nice in flight shots are 50-60 yards. I shoot a lot for a decent pic but when there is a good one, I enjoy it.

Now I know where the RedHeads are in a flock, maybe I can find where they feed and then intercept them along the way for some in flight entertainment.

Last pic is CHARLIE still believing in possibilities. She swam a long way and the blue bill just putzed along in front. When she came to shore, I think some of the liquid she shook off was sweat. I haven't bothered to shoot migratory ever since the lead shot ban. I did have the barrel on the SKB semi opened up for steel, just in case I ever wanted to bother. CHARLIE thinks I should bother :)

Cheers,
Jack

simply beautiful jack...i never get bored as my grand daughter says looking at ducks..there coloring is beyond words...i too have not hunted ducks for a long while..ive killed a few hunting other things in the past years but no serios hunting..i start out each year to go duck hunting but have not got there as of yet... thanks charlie

Very nice pics there Pops. If you do half as well with a Parker as you do with the camera then I don't have to worry about you going hungry.

I love to watch waterfowl but I haven't hunted them since the lead shot ban either. We would get some Red Heads in Manitoba each fall. The Grouse hunting along with the Huns is what I was after most. I had a GSP named Sturm and his first ever point was on a Hun in Manitoba.

Yep, I favor upland birds as well. If it took me as many shotshells to get one duck as it does clicks of the shutter to get one good duck image, the cost per pound of duck meat would be beyond reach. But I do get to amuse myself year round this way.

Cheers,
Jack

I never really cared for the taste of waterfowl and only hunted them when someone was along that would use them. The only upland bird I couldn't eat was a Sharptail I shot in The Pas northern Maintoba. Even the Black Lab wouldn't eat the thing. Never shot another one.

Both are pretty heavy dark meat. Should you happen to ever shoot another sharptail or have any dark meat fowl, try this recipe. You might change your mind.

No big deal, but the only Red Head ducks are the three in flight, the flocks of "Red Heads" on the water and the swimming pair with the Ruddy drake are really Canvasbacks.

Thanks for that observation Greg. Heading out soon for the dog hike. Will try to get close enough for some clear in flight shots, as neither species has been in abundance here.
Cheers,
Jack

Had a good hike. Not around at the right time for most the ducks. Settled on images of a familiar shore bird for most of us who have spent time around sloughs, the Avocet. I ended up filling the memory card and was wondering what would I see on the way out that I will be annoyed about not having another card along. I use 8GB cards, so it takes a long time to fill one and I forget it is not endless. Well, Murphy's law held true. I encountered another unusual species for the area - antelope. Male, female and fawn. They only moved off the trail and stood about 75 yards away. I just kept rolling along at about 5MPH and watched them for a short while. The fawn wasn't too old, about triple the size of those little (some might say annoying) toy poodles. Now a Standard Poodle has my respect as a great hunting dog. I have never owned one but have watched one working in the pheasant fields. Very nice dog. The mosquitos were ugly tonight, even with netting jacket. The hands were bare for operating the camera and those little buggers knew it too. Okay, I seem to have blathered on a bit. Here are some shots of the Avocet

Jack, your photography skills amaze me.

Lest you think I'm some kind of wizard, this helps me a lot. It is why there is still definition of ducks at 400 yards for the knowledgeable to tell the difference between canvasback vs. redhead. The lens is image stablized which helps focus a great deal when all I shoot is hand held. Of course there is still composition etc which can be helped a bit by other software as well as color work. A bit like playing games with film using dark room tricks. All much easier with digital. But, being at the right place, right time and knowing the possibilities and limitations of your gear is still for the guy behind the camera.

Oh... nevermind :shock:

O yes thats the one for me.

All the best Dave.