In a short video about fancy ducks in Victoria, they went to King's Pond to see Wood Ducks. I'd actually run by this pond, but I hadn't looked past the masses of Mallards. So Shelley and I stopped by when we were in the area. Typically, someone was feeding the ducks so there were lots of them on the path. But sure enough, amidst all the Mallards were a few Wood Ducks. This one came straight towards us and into the water.
There were some great reflections in the water to give them a nice background. (Although there was a lot of debris floating in the water, so it wasn't as clean a background as I would have liked.)
I'm not sure if this guy was showing off for the females or to intimidate the other males. (As usual with birds, the males are the flashy ones.) Nice pattern on the underside of the wings.
There were also a few American Wigeons around. Pretty feathers on their backs.
And some very active Ring-necked Ducks. They're also known as "ring bills" because the ring around the bill is much more noticeable than the cinnamon colored ring around their neck.
There were also some turtles out sunning themselves on a log. (According to a sign, the log was installed by volunteers, specifically for the turtles.)
This one was right at the edge of the path where I could get a good closeup.
Unfortunately, these turtles (red-eared sliders) are a non-native invasive species. Until recently they were all released pets, which explains why I've never seen really small ones. But apparently they have started to breed in southern Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland. This wouldn't be so bad except they are out-competing the native Western Painted Turtles.
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