Okay, birders or the just curious, here's a photo of the peculiar duck in Central Park. I'm going with Cindy's theory that it's a mallard cross, though crossed with what I dunno. But if you have another idea I'd love to hear it. It seems to be a female, and to be in love with a male mallard, who follows it around the way a male mallard should with a mate, except that there's also a female mallard who follows the male around. Doesn't seem to bother the odd one, though.

I also saw a great white egret, with his mating plumage spread. Apparently he's one of a pair who summers in the park and he just arrived. This according to a photographer who'd been sitting on a rock for an hour waiting for the bird to move so he could snap a picture. Luckily my camera, which I love, has its limitations, and one is distance. So I wasn't tempted to join him.