Mama wood duck and a gaggle of babies, living their best life in a quiet bay at the lake. It’s amazing I was able to get as close as I did in the kayak; I almost didn’t see them at first, tucked in against the shoreline. If they had been still I probably would have looked right past them, but they were on the move and ultimately cut across the bay some distance ahead of me.
Wood ducks are by far the most skittish of the ducks I have encountered, and sometimes it seems that just seeing them – at any distance – is enough to make them flee. I don’t usually expect much when I do encounter them, but any time that I am able to grab a few shots is the sweeter for it.