I realize these are just mallards... and not exactly the most exciting of waterfowl species. (I think there might be one Pintail, an infinitely more intriguing species, rising up out of the reeds in the background.) But, you have to admit, the birds, now in full breeding finery, are incredibly eye-catching. A couple of other things are equally intriguing. The first of these is that I captured the image at the back end of the  Avalonia Land Conservancy's Henne Preserve, a place I used to just about call home; this trek marks my first foray there since my heart surgery, so that's great. The other thing is that I took the image with my ancient Fuji, which was then considered a supertelephoto camera but now, with its 10X lens, is probably not much better than that on a cell phone camera. I loved that old Fuji, and I still use it, although it's not the best tool for capturing birds in flight. When it works, however—and it certainly worked here—it has numerous advantages, not the least of which is that it's light, so I can hold it steady.