BEAUTY TAKEN FOR GRANTED

The Mallard Duck is quite ordinary in this area (Michigan), so it's easy to overlook their beautiful coloring and velvety-satin feathers. I especially like the true-blue racing stripe on the lower edge of their wings. (Unfortunately the background was less than interesing today.)

This shot is at the pond in front of the Delta Retirement Center in Lansing where my mother lives. The residents there enjoy the several dozen geese that usually inhabit the pond, but today this duck was the only one there. Guess he missed the memo about a better meal someplace else.