Swan, Long Tailed Duck (20131229) A trip down to the lake.

Andy needed to check out his boat down on the waterfront so we took a spin and I threw the camera in case an opportunity presented itself. At the sailing club I grabbed this shot of a Mute Swan, not a bird that we get in Alberta. You can see how it dwarfs the Mallard Hens that are around it, these are big birds.

I got Andy to stop the car as I spotted a "White headed duck" and shot these three female Mergansers on the way over to get a shot of my mystery bird.

My "White Headed Duck" turned out to be a Long Tailed duck, a bird I have only seen at very long distances, so this was a real find for me.

I think this is a beautiful looking bird, apparently in it breeding plumage, which I have never seen they are like a Photo Negative of themselves whereby all that is white here is dark and all the dark light. As a first on the Blog I thought that I would add a second image.

We took a short stroll on the Leslie Street Spit as it was a surprize that it was open this time of year. We found a Mink and a Muskrat, but the distance was such that no usable images were captured.  Tomorrow is supposed to have a little sun, so I will see what shows up around the feeder.
Turbo