Bird Day.

My day started pretty early today. I had to get up early to put the finishing touches on an article I'm writing for Tri-City Magazine. I got the article done, then I made some coffee and took the dogs for a walk.

We left the house around 6:15 and it was absolutely beautiful out. Blue sky, sunshine, 55 degrees. Couldn't ask for better dog-walking weather. The dogs and I have a route that we usually walk, with slight variations along the way. We almost always, though, walk to the river and follow the river for a little bit, then head home.

This morning, when we got to the spot where we usually turn around, I saw something unusual in the water. There were two ducks swimming side by side and one of them had something in his mouth (they were both males, green heads). I was trying to figure out what was in his mouth. It looked like a fish, but that didn't make any sense. As I'm staring at the ducks I finally see what it is--it's another duck's head. This one duck is holding the other duck's head underwater. And he's got a buddy there to help him hold the duck under. It was one of the craziest things I've ever seen.

I watch this real-life Mutual of Omaha segment unfold for a couple of minutes. The two ducks are really not letting the third duck up. I begin to feel really bad for the third duck. I mean, what the hell did he do to deserve this?

I whistle at them, not too loudly, but loud enough that it draws the two bullies' attention. While they are looking over at me, the third duck manages to slip out from under them and flies off.

Even though I just told Darwin to screw himself and probably ruined the process of natural selection, I still feel pretty good about myself.

When I got back to the studio, I googed something like, "ducks drowning other ducks" and sure enough I got a hit (I love the internet!). Apparently, that is how ducks mate--it's a pretty violent process. The males gang up on a single female. There is one male who is there to get what he wants and the others are just there as muscle.

Kind of like a party in Kobe Bryant's suite, I guess.

As if that wasn't aviary drama enough for the day, when I get to the studio this morning I see two mourning doves sitting outside the back door of the studio. They look like they were fighting, but Laurie noticed right away that it was a mother and baby bird. The mother bird was bringing food and kind of pecking at the baby bird to feed him. It was really cute.

I managed to get outside and snap a few photos. It's not the best photo because I couldn't get too close, but you can see them pretty well here.


They hung out for a little while, but I had to get to work so I lost track of them. It was a nice counterbalance to the waterfowl domestic violence I had witnessed earlier.

I know this had nothing to do with design, but that's just the way it is.

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