Black-bellied Whistling Duck

I had an appointment in town today, that meant that I had an hour to waste, as it was not worth going home after dropping Nia off at school. I went to the park, and played with my camera and settings. There were quite a few of these lovely ducks about, but despite my harassment, they wouldn't do anything interesting. Eventually I found this one all on his own at the far end of the lake. They do not like being on their own, and I can't imagine how he had become separated from his friends. He was peeping forlornly, and I was pretty sure he would take off were I to wait a little while. Finally he took flight, and I got some goodish shots. It is quite easy to take pictures of birds flying away from you, but needs a certain amount of cunning and luck to get them at this angle, I find.

I must apologise to the people of America, for laughing at their weather obsession, last week. Last night 135 people and counting, were killed by tornadoes in Alabama; the storms in the Mid West have also claimed many lives and in other states there is catastrophic flooding. Enough to make anyone have The Weather Channel on, night and day.