I continue to build categories in my gallery. This week I have introduced ducks. In Southern Africa we have a selection of beautiful ducks

White faced Whistling duck are very wary and are easily scared away.

White-faced whistling ducks are ubiquitous in Southern Africa. They are incredibly beautiful waterbirds, as are most of our wild ducks.

The whistling call of the White -faced whistling duck is a true African sound often heard along rivers and dams.

Having drunk it was time to stretch- the colouring of the Hottentot Teal is subtle and beautiful.

The Hottentot Teal is not as common as the White-face and usually does not allow you to get too close so a long lens will be needed to get a reasonable shot. Small ducks with beautiful colouring.

The same male South African Shelduck sorting out a possible threat.

This South African male Shellduck was taking no prisoners. He was very aggressive toward the Guineafowl around the water in the Etosha National Park.

The reason for the heightened aggression, as we found out later, were four tiny Shellduck chicks.

We desperately need rain in Gauteng in South Africa but good rains have finally started to fall in Mashatu Game Reserve in southern Botswana after nearly 18 months of drought.

Sweet relief for the wildlife.

I have also added the Blyde River in the Rivers grouping. You might have seen some of these shots in the New Year post. This is at the very Northern part of the Drakensberg mountain range.

The mountains are huge and majestic and somewhat incongruent in the lowveld.

I hope you enjoy the ducks.

I have also added some more raptor , roller and  Jacana shots.

Have fun

Mike