23. Ruddy Duck

I bagged some water birds at the Richardson Bay Audubon Center. It was a glorious day. Harper and I went to Tiburon for the weekend. It's a short enough drive that we could get her over there without too much pain (she has to lie flat in the back of the truck, it's quite the scene). RBAC has a pretty gentle slope leading down to the water, so with caution, we were able to approach the overlook where we could spy a huge number of birds in the water.

The Ruddy Duck is quite distinctive. It's a diving duck with easily identifiable white markings on its head. But you can almost tell these birds at a distance without binocs, thanks to its highly distinctive tail. One of the "stiff tailed" ducks, the Ruddy often holds its tail straight up, as it did when I saw it.