Saturday 26 November 2016

Sitting Ducks


I'm a night bird who very rarely gets up early so it was a treat to see the sun rise on Thursday.


With a flask of tea, The Hamlyn Guide to Birds of Europe and an ancient pair of binoculars in my backpack, I joined Lon and Kim on one of their regular trips to count migratory birds. 


As Autumn mornings go, it couldn't have been bettered; watching the steam rising from the water and mingling with the mist was quite magical but it very soon became apparent that we weren't the only ones looking for ducks.


We met National Park rangers on our way who warned us that there were fifteen hunting parties around the creek and lake, that they all had official permits and were bagging their self-regulated quota of duck. 

Decoy ducks had us fooled for a few minutes

So, apart from the occasional grebe, the only ducks to be counted were plastic, the others were staying out of shooting and binocular range and any survey had to be abandoned.



But on an impromptu ramble through the undergrowth, I found a this quill, so we could at least record that porcupines were around.


For those of you with busy lives, here is 17 seconds of tranquility from S. W. Turkey. 

12 comments:

  1. Whenever I get up early I always wish that I did it more often, but that is far as it goes.
    Hope that the next time you visit you get the place to yourselves

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    1. As we didn't put our clocks back in Turkey, our dawn is late, but I still very rarely see it.

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  2. . . sunrise is magical - another day :-D

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  3. Annie, Glad to see those smart ducks are staying away from those hunters. (To us, sunrise these days is late - about 7:45 - and at the winter solstice, it will be even another hour later.)

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  4. Just beautiful Annie - where were you?

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  5. I'm definitely feeling rested now I've watched the video :-D

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  6. So beautiful dear Annie, enjoy this gorgeous spot and moment of calm for me too, cok sevgiler, Ozlem xxx

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    1. Another place to visit when you spend more time in Bodrum.

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