A stolen moment shared with nature, Photos

Leon and I had another stolen moment, an unusual schedule allowed him to be home really early yesterday!!! We went to a beautiful local park and walked. A perfect winter day: 50 degrees, bright sunshine, fluffy clouds, birds singing. There were families at the playground at one end of the lake, both playing on the slides and having fast food picnics under the shelter overlooking the lake. Businesses and train tracks in view along one end and side of the lake hide the lower foothills of the Cascades. The opposite end has basketball courts and soccer fields, with a large hill in the distance. An asphalt path runs between the lake and pasture where a few cows wander around.

The lake has more ducks than I have ever seen. As dinner time approached we were treated to a team of ducks flying from the lake to the pasture and back. I felt like I was watching science fiction -- the sun would reflect from their bodies and then as they turned together, they blended in with the trees in the distance so well -- they vanished, but we KNEW they were there. I had never seen that either and was so mesmerized I forgot that our camera would take small movie clips!

Did you know that flying they are called a team, and in the water, a paddling, but if just in reference, a raft? Hmmm - So, ducks just moseying along the bank take off to become a team and then land in the water and become a paddling. I had no idea. . .

To see a list of other cool facts about bird group names, click here!