I stopped by Summit Lake this evening to check out the waterfowl, no big surprises. I thought I had seen black ducks before, but I saw one of the darkest black ducks I have ever seen on the west side of the lake hanging out with some mallards. Any insight into just how dark a black duck can get? I got a couple of (not spectacular) photos and posted one at my flickr account if you would like to compare. It's a little grainy, but you can see some mallards in the foreground for a color comparison. Maybe the setting sun and the freshly preened feathers, or maybe just one dark duck. http://www.flickr.com/photos/stitchface/3159042746/ Other species: XX Ring-necked ducks 2 Ruddy ducks XX Hooded mergansers XX Coots XX Mallards 2 Bufflehead(f) XXX Canada Geese 4 Ring-billed gulls Dave ______________________________________________________________________ Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/. You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]