(This is one of the sets of pictures from Yellowstone that we did not have time to post. There is one more, after this one. Unfortunately, it is the one that had almost 2,500 pictures. At least it is down to 1,600 now!)

The plan for today was to go to Gull Point Drive, sit, and see what showed up. Unfortunately, we arrived at Gull Point during lunch hour. There were multiple groups of people eating in the picnic area. Since we planned to go to the beach to look for the ducklings again, this was not good news. Some lady also decided to walk her dogs on the beach. We are not clear on whether that is allowed. Dogs are not allowed on trails, but it was a beach versus a trail. She did maintain good control of them, which is unusual.

Surprisingly, we did see the ducklings again. We originally thought they were Barrow’s Goldeneye ducklings, but they are more likely Bufflehead ducklings. The ducklings were learning to dive, so they started disappearing and bobbing back up, like cocks.

Another duck was randomly with them again. Maybe, it is the nanny duck? It looks like it is a Gadwall. It must have just dove or dabbled because it looks like it is spitting or blowing a bubble.

After taking pictures and videos of the ducklings, we decided to get away from the people scaring everything away. On the way off the beach, we saw a Killdeer pretending to be hurt to lead us away from its nest.

The next area on Gull Point Drive was more secluded, with limited parking and no picnic area. That area has some regular birds, but not as many different species. John was able to get some very good pictures of the Lesser Scaup. In the picture of the male, you can see the purple iridescence that means it is Lesser instead of Greater.

John was also able to get some passable pictures of a Bufflehead. The contrast was turned down a lot in the pictures so that the iridescence of the head feathers on the male Bufflehead is visible. The Bufflehead head feathers look a little like an oil slick in the sunlight. The predominant colors are green and purple, but there is some yellow too.

Periodically, the wind was strong enough to flip our chairs or tip Kate’s spotting scope. Later, the wind picked up more and rain seemed imminent, so we ended up heading out after about an hour. On the walk out, we saw some pretty red flowers. We have not identified these.

At Fishing Bridge, we saw a flock of American Pelicans by the shore. We pulled over, got out, and hiked the half mile up Howard Eaton trail only to find four people on the shore in the place the Pelicans were. Given our observations, it seems likely that they got too close and scared them away. Sadly, none of the Pelican pictures was very crisp.

On the way back, a Mallard swam by about 10 feet away from Fishing Bridge. This picture is a good example of the frustrating inconsistency in the focus of the Canon R7 Mirrorless Camera. At 10 feet away in good light, the Canon T7i DSLR was never this out of focus. If the camera was too close to focus or there was motion blur, there would not be the sharply focused feathers in the body and back of the head.

The quarter mile drive home from Fishing Bridge was, otherwise, uneventful.