My sister and I took a meander outside of town today to Chapel’s Cove. We had a nice little visit with Linda and the critters at Baynoddy and a pleasant lunch at The Pantry in Holyrood (huge portions, not expensive and very good!). I didn’t take all that many photos as it was more of a “hang out and chat” than a “run around and snap shots” sort of day.

At one point, though, I did spot some wonky-looking duckish things flying overhead and we hauled over for a look. I got out, climbed up to look over a rock wall into the cove and…. nothing.

“Invisible ducks,” I explained to my sister, who gave me that look that says, “Clearly you are cracking up.”

Then I was vindicated as a flock of the same flew swiftly overhead out towards open sea, got half-way up the cove and did a 180-turn and came back at us. I managed to grab this shot, mainly for identification purposes later.

Since taking more photos, I find myself learning quite a bit more about birds. These look like Common Mergansers (not just based on this photo, but also on my observation of the invisible ducks whose beaks were long and orange-red). The other day I swung by The Bird House (brilliant little store – you must visit!) and picked up a copy of Stokes’ Field to Birds (Eastern Region), which I will theoretically start taking on these excursions so that the phrase, “Hey, there are some weird-looking whassisses flying overhead!” becomes less frequent. If I remember to put the darned thing in my travel bag, that is.

Oh, and Wally says, “Hello. Back off. I may spit on you”

Hope your Wednesday was as lively as mine!