Female Flare Flair

No sign of Pheasy Boy after his ice walk yesterday, which is good I think. I watched a female mallard fall through the ice and then struggle to get back on it. In the end she decided to swim labouriously through it.

Much milder today. I photographed a goldcrest and the image included a swarm of midges dancing next to it. 

My first aviation related bird shot was a gull that was having trouble retracting its undercarriage. Its feet were weighed down with mud. Then the female mallard in my image came into land. See how she flares her tail feathers. The word flare originally meant to spread out one's hair. The same word is used in aviation to mean increasing lift and drag on landing. My mallard executed a creamer. :)