Mallard courtship

I went back to the bog in Chagrin River Park today and found it covered with mallards. This female shown in the collage was showing off for a male who was swimming close by. Although she didn't seem very interested in his "flashy moves", I snapped pictures of his wing action and included them in my flickr photostream. You can see the whole set here.

Parking space was at a premium in the park today because our winter weather receded enough to bring out lots and lots of families and dog walkers. When I reached the owl's nest, there she sat in all her glory. I took some pictures, but I really needed Debbi's long lens to get better shots as these are only so-s0. You can see them here and here. All-in-all, it was a successful photowalk, and the sun was shining all day!

Try viewing it in large for more of the mallards.