Afternoon Ducks and Parhelion

     North Texas enjoyed (or not) warm temperatures this week. We still have water in every pond, some at full capacity, and plenty of grass in the countryside.

In the late afternoon, the sun, the clouds, the grasslands, and a road.

A parhelion.

A pumping unit bringing up oil.

Decades of erosion expose the roots of a tree in an area 

damaged by saltwater extracted from the ground during drilling. 

An oil product, perhaps paraffin, held together the clay soil during erosion,

leaving interesting formations.

A calf watches me as I capture the hooded mergansers in flight. 

Hooded mergansers.

MyMrMallory stopped the truck for me to capture some American widgeons.

    Speaking of birds, we had some very nice sightings during our afternoon visit to the countryside: Several Red-tailed hawks, a Northern harrier, a couple of American kestrels, many meadowlarks, about  ten Hooded mergansers, approximately thirty American widgeons, a solitary sandpiper, a Grasshopper sparrow, seagulls, and a Swainson's hawk.