Heading Outdoors! Wood ducks can provide incredible, if brief, action

In moonless darkness, we turned off the main river, entering a small, shallow ditch leading to an oxbow lake.

Around the bend, we pulled under some overhanging trees and tied up the small, camouflaged aluminum boat. We covered the outboard and gas tank with an old camouflaged poncho and added Spanish moss around the boat edges to break up our outline. Then, we waited for shooting hours to begin.

The glow on the eastern horizon backlighted trees on the far shoreline. Festooned with Spanish moss, trees looked like bearded skeletons. In the darkness, fluttering wings already beat rapidly over our heads. As light began to brighten, glimpses of ghostly gray and black images flashed past us.

Finally, shooting hours began. Several twisting, whistling shapes materialized over the water and then