Tag Archives: Mallards

All Redheads To The Front

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Mergansers6397click to enlarge

There are fast ducks and there are slow ducks. These are fast ducks, in fact they look fast just standing still. Slow ducks would be your Mallards, especially the really fat ones you see around the city park. Those are so slow they can’t get out of their own way, 10 mph tops, while these Mergansers are the Formula One members of the duck world. We’re talking open wheels, spoilers, drafting, no fuel restriction Indy cars.  230mph speedsters that only have one way of getting there and that is, Flat out. This young brood decided they needed to determine who was going to sit on the pole this season so everywhere they went it was web feet to the metal and don’t be last. These are fast lane ducks and they don’t have time for idle chit chat, in fact they rarely idle, everything is redline with these guys so if you see them coming just step aside or you’re going to get wet plus you’re going to have all those embarrassing web foot tracks all over your face because these guys don’t slow down. See you in turn one.

RiverDance

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All of the rivers in Yellowstone National Park have personalities of their own but the Firehole river is hands down the coolest. While the Yellowstone river is majestic and the Gibbon is chaotic and the Madison is grand, it is the Firehole that has the hippest personality of all. It is due to the supporting characters along it’s banks as much as anything. From the dive-bombing Osprey that slice into the crystal clear water, to the occasional coyote that swims across it and even the buffalo that will walk along it’s banks in the water just for the fun of it, the Firehole is more like a refined circus than a carnival.

 Here we have a Mallard duck preparing for the season premiere of Yellowstone’s version of RiverDance. Each year one of the animal groups is chosen to be the featured performers in this season’s extravaganza, and this year it is the duck family, much to their delight. Rehearsing tirelessly the ducks are perfecting each and every move. Carefully choosing the perfect location to show off their classic performances, this rock overhang is the absolute best choice for the climax of his routine.

The show also features the high diving Osprey showcasing their dangerous and heart stopping “Dive of Death” where they plunge headlong into the river and reappear with glistening Cutthroat trout in their talons, plus the zany and carefree Common Mergansers, the mop-tops of the duck world, performing their perfectly choreographed skit “Skipping Across the River Top”. The featured performance though, will be the dancing talents of the Mallard backed up by that Bevy of Bountiful Beauties, the Duckettes, performing a dance routine “Rollin’ On The River” set to the music of Ike and Tina’s “Proud Mary”. It will be a showstopper.

So, don’t miss it. Performances daily at locations up and down the Firehole River. Be there or be square.