Twice now I have been outside with my camera when ducks were flying either into or out of our pond. I have no duck photos.

Happy to see the hummingbird feeder

The first time, I was sitting on the front porch with my camera on the tripod, focused on the hummingbird feeder. I got a few photos of a hummingbird and a few of some House Finches also on the hummingbird feeder. But when the ducks flew out of the pond and over our yard, I couldn’t wrestle the camera and tripod contraption into a position to even think about taking a photo of a flying fowl.

Finch food, as well

The second time, I was taking photos of some sketches. The light is good on the front porch, especially for those of us who are still learning the intricacies of using the manual camera settings. This time I heard the ducks and thought, “Aha! Now I’ve got them!”

Well, no I don’t.

I was holding my camera in my hand. I looked up and saw where the ducks were and where they were headed, but when I raised my camera, I couldn’t find them through the viewer. And then they were out of sight.

What kind of ducks were they? I have no idea.

Here is a Smew, a duck from across the Big Pond. It’s at the Houston Zoo, behaving nicely for me and my camera.

Smew, checking out lunch possibilities

Diving for food