I suited up for a walk after a quick peek out the front door confirmed there was no snow, despite predictions for more of the white stuff. So, I got ready in record time, grabbed the camera and peanuts, then laced up my hiking boots, only to open the door about twenty minutes later and discover delicate snowflakes twinkling down from the sky. “You’ve got to be kidding!” I said to no one in particular. I could have just thrown on half of what I was wearing and slipped into my shoes to run the car a few minutes, then scurry back into the house. So, I grumbled a bit more and decided all the effort in anticipation of a walk would not be for naught.
Going to Council Point Park from my house is a rather convoluted jaunt. There are twists and turns in the road, so that wending my way down through the neighborhoods to the beginning of the walking trail is nearly a mile, according to the pedometer. Maybe it’s shorter as the crow flies, but it’s impossible to make a straight run there, as there are several dead end roads. Google maps will tell you it is a .8 mile-long trip, but that’s just to reach River Drive, and then you have to hike clear across the large parking lot, then past the pavilion area, before you even get to the start of the walking path. It’s worth the trip, but I didn’t want to get there and have to cut my walk short like yesterday.
Along the way, the intensity of the snowflakes picked up with most of them settling neatly into the cracks in the sidewalks, but it wasn’t slippery, so I continued on. Once at the Park, I noticed the snowflakes had similarly drifted and settled into cracks in the asphalt, or formed a white outline along the path itself. I was glad I didn’t turn back – a few snow flurries and no worries.
It was a little blustery and the temperature was 28 degrees. Despite the cold, Parker and his pals were back and I doled out peanuts and sweet-talked them a little, then gently chastised the whole bunch for being lazy and staying up in their respective nests yesterday. Unfortunately, my words fell on deaf ears because as soon as the peanuts were scattered on the ground, the squirrels glommed onto them and I moved on.
I saw a half-dozen Canada geese grazing, and, I would not have even noticed them, since their brownish/gray plumage blends right into the drab and blah landscape at the Park right now. What I did see was those sleek black heads bobbing up and down as they grazed on grass with their brethren. Just like yesterday, those geese were keeping a low profile and they paid me no mind as I strolled by them.
Today, the ducks were making a racket with their quacking, which, since the Park is so peaceful in the early morning, the cacophony of duck chatter and quacks tends to echo throughout the narrow Ecorse Creek passage.
Sometimes it even sounds like raucous laughter to me.
Not all mallards were creating a stir, however.
Some were placidly paddling along, sometimes dipping their beaks or submerging their heads in the icy-cold water.
Occasionally, one duck would go vertical, and all you saw was tail feathers sticking out of the water. Obviously the cold water holds much appeal for them. I felt a shiver rack my body while watching those ducks, despite my having donned nine pieces of clothing to go on this walk.
The mallards are welcome to their icy dip – I know for them, it’s all that it is quacked up to be.
Linda Schaub
WALKIN', WRITIN', WIT & WHIMSY 
That was a fun walk, with the mallards enjoying their icy water. Do you see other kinds of ducks? Some years I was lucky to see wood ducks on my walk by the millpond in NY. Mostly there were mallards.
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It was – still cold and blustery, but no ice so that was a plus. The snowflakes were pretty. They stopped so I could take pictures. I saw one wood duck at the creek at Council Point Park and that was one time, so I figure he was lost as it was the one and only time. Those wood ducks are unique and beautiful aren’t they? I have to go back to Dingell Park where all the mallards and geese cluster together up close by the pavilion area. There was a swan there last time I went but it was pretty tame as people were feeding it and it was not snapping. Someone said they thought it was hurt or sick as it didn’t move around much – it looked okay to me and was eating everything people gave to it. I like ducks and am looking forward to Spring, come early May when there are goslings and ducklings. I don’t get as many pictures of ducklings as goslings. Must try harder this year.
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I don’t have many photos of ducklings. I felt the parents were very protective of them, but the geese and goslings were everywhere.
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The only time I see the ducklings is swimming in a row behind their parents. And they are so tiny, that they look like little dots or blobs in the picture. I think this year I will go to Heritage Park which is about five miles away. It is a nice park with a woodsy area and a huge man-made pond in the middle of what they have made into an old-fashioned village, with lots of historical old homes and railroad cars. In this man-made pool are ducks but no geese – hundreds of them and it is open so you can see better. I follow Heritage Park Photo of the Day on Facebook … the man who is administrator of the site takes a daily picture or has people send him their photos and he posts them. The first time I went to that park was last year and I sent him the blog post and told him to use any of the pictures that he wanted, so he shared the blog post. I had at least 10 or more photos of the day, like a narrative. I take pictures of the goslings but they don’t always come out – too close together, they move their heads, but this post I used a compilation of my best gosling pics and saved it for Father’s Day. The goslings are sweet when they are little and fuzzy, but then they get to that awkward teenage gangly stage … all legs and a canoe-shaped body.
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Witty and whimsical, and, as sweet and cute as ever.
Nice write and sharp pictures, Linda. 🙂 The Mallards wood certainly agree.
Cheerz, honks and hugz, UT
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Thanks Uncle Tree – I am glad you liked it … those ducks sure are rambunctious sometimes and have you ever heard someone laugh where it sounds a little like a quack or a cackle? I had a boss that would laugh with this really loud and raucous laugh that you heard him all over the floor when he was laughing over something … sometimes the ducks remind me of Jerry. Sounds crazy I know.
Thanks again for the compliment. Those ducks sure were enjoying themselves in the icy-cold water.
Cheers back at you.
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Miss Linda…………………..ho ho ho : “It’s all that it’s quacked up to be”…………………………I like that……………..but I prefer the Mallard ducks to those Canadian geese……………….anyways…….isn’t it nice that those snow predictions aren’t sticking and staying……………………it actually snows every morning when I start to walk…………………………that’s the kind of snow that I like just flurries
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Thanks Ann Marie – I thought of that line as I was watching them enjoying themselves in that ice-cold water. Those mallards are cute … I am thinking of going to Heritage Park to get some pictures of them with their ducklings in May because I never seem to seem the moms/babies much at Council Point Park. I’ll see them in the water and they often duck (pardon the pun) behind some reeds or a log and I can’t see them very well or take a picture. I like how they predict snow ever day and it is not there – it was snowing pretty good but just not going anywhere on the lawns or making things slippery yesterday. I was mad when I looked out the door and saw it coming down.
This weekend will be cold but beautiful –
like you, I don’t care how cold it is, just no snow or rain. They say next week is dry, but chance of snow showers Monday and Tuesday afternoon. Crossing my fingers they are correct about that.
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I love your duck photos, Linda!
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Thanks Jill! I have uploaded some pictures I took this morning and will have more pictures in a blog post later today. We had a bright and sunny morning, and suddenly, all these clouds came out of nowhere and wiped the sun out, but I was done (thankfully).
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