Duck, Duck Goose at Dawn And a New Hat~

My oldest daughter Hillary will at times ring me up on her way to take her twin boys to school, before going to work and let me know that the sunrise is making a nice show over Crystal Lake where her little family lives. 
I dash out the door and grab my camera in a wake of dust to make it the 3 miles, before things quickly change. 
The above scene was the last chance viewing after one of her welcome calls~

To Chris of:
http://chrisphotonature

Pretty Incredible!

To have known Chris for over 3 years, blogging from Iceland to Kentucky...
Shopping at the market, admiring a hat, complimenting the woman named Pat, who was wearing the hat.
 Then being introduced to Pat's brother Matt , and his wife Béa, who happen to be visiting Oldham County, Kentucky, from Iceland. 
Then add in that I just happened to have a birding/blogging friend from Iceland, named Chris...
which I mentioned in conversation, and then the smiles, even tears of joy that swept over me...
amazing! 
Add in that now I also have one of those beautiful hand crocheted hats made by Ranae,  who is sister to Matt and Pat, and that she also happens to be very good friend, of a friend I have had for 3 decades Kris, who lives in Oldham County as well...well you get the picture. 
Ranae and I both live in the same neighborhood...can you believe it...it is true! 
Pretty amazing, all beautiful, got to  love it~

I am linking up with Stewart at:

Wild Bird Wednesday

(http://paying-ready-attention-gallery.blogspot.com.au/)

as well as Sylvia at:

 SkyWatch Friday

I invite you to check out more 'Skywatch Friday' posts from around the world at:

http://skyley.blogspot.com/

 

 

She and her family also recently invited me to take in some play time at a nearby park.  There the following images of Mallard Ducks and assorted Geese were photographed~

The image above is not done in sepia tones, but was taken just as it was viewed and captured~

 

 

 

 

 

 

They swim about, bask in the sun, preen and then take baths! Wild and crazy baths, that show great joy in the undertaking of such raucous behavior~

 

I get one of those looks as if to say...what... are you going to be watching and if so...just stand back, because I am about to splash you with muddy water~

 

 

The family enjoyed a walk around the lake at the park and the water reflections were softened by their winter hues~

 

 

 

 

Autumn's Grand Finale Reflected & Goose Goose~

My husby never calls them geese, always ducks...looks like a duck and must be  duck.  Even the Canada Geese, not Canadian Geese as some mistakenly call them, to the husby, those to are ducks... I took these images at one of our local parks.  There were some Mallard Ducks nearby, but no images taken.  The colours of the trees were at their finest in depth and brilliance with the sun's reflections showing them in their full glory in the water as well.  Have a delightful weekend and always take time to enjoy the nature right outside your door~

Water Birds in The Baking Sun~

It has been the hottest past few days, and I am going to admit that I am miserable.  My husby has a bad habit of turning off the air conditioner after only a half an hour of running it.  Same thing with the heat in the winter months and I have no earthly clue what the deal is, he doesn't either, it is just him.  Thus said, I have been sluggish and sweaty and sleepy and very discombobulated to say the least with temperatures in the high 90's and with heat index readings in the 110 to 115 degree range.  Watching water birds gives me a sense of being a bit cooler.

I have never seen this breed of ducks before, so I got out my "Field Guide to Birds of North America", and I am going to guess that these are Hooded Mergansers~

Mr. & Mrs. Red-winged Blackbirds~

This is one of the local parks where I take my morning walks in St. Matthews.  There are almost always a nice gathering of ducks, and on Monday it was a Mallard Duck family~

Great Blue Herons took advantage of a flooded field after heavy rains recently~

Domestic White Goose Family~

I may need a little help on my final collage.  A shorebird, yes... Yellowlegs of some sort, or a Sandpiper...just not sure, but it too was a visiting wader at the park and I had not ever seen one of these at this location either~