Yesterday I took off from work a little early.  I didn't feel great and needed to pick Sam up form work to go get her car from the shop.  Traffic was light and I got to here work about 30 minutes early--so instead of waiting in the parking lot I drove 5 blocks to the Sand Fishing Pond to see what was on the water.  The lighting was great so I figured I would snap some shots of the Mallards and the Coots to make the best of it:

  

Drake Mallard and an American Coot at the Sand Pond

There was a Great Blue Heron sitting on the island when I arrived with its head tucked.  I didn't pay much attention but figured I would get to a nice angle before I left to get a few shots.  After a few minutes with the waterfowl I headed to a little spit of land that juts out into the pond, and the following shots are what happened...

It started with a little dance:

Which progressed into a pose:

And then into a stretch and fluff (my favorite shot):

This was followed by a take off

(note the creature to scare the birds placed there by DNR):

And flight across the pond:

where the bird promptly landed on a fence:

Sometimes you just end up in the right place at the right time for whatever reason and get to capture something cool on film--er .jpg--whatever you want to call it.  Now if only that damn red post hadn't been there it would have been perfect!