Aix sponsa

The Valley Water was the sole preserve of a Pied-billed Grebe recently, until this male Wood Duck came in for a landing. He paddled back and forth a few times as if the pond was a fashion runway and then flew off.What a show-stopper! Those eyes!

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The public lands of this nation are a marvel, one of the country’s better achievements, and a tradition 144 years old. Yet there are those, not many but powerful, who have longed to take them for their own profit. They call them “federal lands” to suggest that a faceless government controls them at the expense of we, the people. But you know that’s bullshit. These lands are the heritage of all Americans, not the oil and gas companies, some ranchers, or whoever else claims them. The government manages them because history has taught us that private individuals fail so spectacularly to do so properly. Giving them to states overrun by pirates and plutocratic toadies would be just as bad. Sure, the feds are far from perfect…but that’s our fault. Trump’s Grand Guignol wrecking crew are infinitely worse.