Duck, Duck...Eagle!

Friday the weather was permitting, so I hit the Hills, but started with another stop at Canyon Lake on the W side of Rapid City, to see what wintering ducks were about...

A few ring-necked ducks were hunkered down on the edge of the ice closest to the shore...

Several redheads were on hand...the photo below is the only shot I got of a female redhead (r.)...

I think this is the first time I've seen a male (bottom) common merganser! Before I'd only seen 1-2 females... I saw a female with her chicks on Box Elder Creek 1-2 yrs ago...below is the male up closer...the male has a deep forest green head, the female's is cinnamon...

A female lesser scaup? ...she was hanging w/ a male redhead...they do look just like a female redhead except for the light colored spot by the beak... 

There were still plenty of common goldeneyes, in their crisp white turtlenecks...below is a female (bottom of photo)...

I somehow only got one shot of a bufflehead (bottom), there weren't many...the female bufflehead is at the top of the photo. That's a female common goldeneye near the male bufflehead. 

Pheasant under glass? Naw, just mallard on ice...

After leaving Canyon Lake, I headed W on Hwy 44 to Hwy 385, where I headed S, stopping at Pactola Lake despite the blustering wind...to take a few shots of the ice fishermen...and below, the American flag that flies on top of a small rock island in the lake near the Hwy side...

Further S on Hwy 385, up ahead I saw a dark shape on the road and thought it was a crow eating roadkill...as I got closer the bird flapped its wings and I saw flashes of solid white...! The bald eagle flew up to the trunk of a broken off tree and I was able to get some shots in before it flew to a pine branch blocked from view, and then hit the sky and disappeared. Once again, nature left me speechless!