Dead fish liter the beach on Courtney Campbell Causeway.
No coats, gloves or hats for these guys.
Found this duck swimming close by. Not sure what type. He looks like a lesser scaup or ring neck but I don't think he's either one. Can anyone ID?
Sun went behind the clouds before sunset.
It was a sad drive home on Friday. I was able to leave work a little early and had my camera with me. It was the first time all week I had left work before dark. I had heard about all of the dead fish floating in the bay from being "cold stunned" but had not seen anything. I was thinking I would stop off on Courtney Campbell Causeway and take some pictures of shorebirds along the way and maybe get a sunset picture. Instead all I found was dead fish. They were floating in the water and washed up on the rocks and beach. The freezing temperatures we've had last week really hurt the wildlife here. They are not made to be in water below 40 degrees. I've heard all of the zoos, aquariums and wildlife centers are full of turtles and manatees that were suffering from the cold. It's warmed up this weekend. Hopefully it won't get that cold again. I did manage to find a duck floating around close by the beach.
Update - I just went out into the backyard and there are tons of fish floating in the channel behind our house. There wasn't any there Saturday morning. I guess the storms last night brought them in. Surprisingly it doesn't smell. Thanks Andrea for the ID on the duck. It's a female lesser scaup.
You were right about the duck -- it's a female Lesser Scaup (they do look a lot like Ring-neck Ducks)! I've noticed a lot of the dead sealife too. Thank goodness the weather is finally warming up again!
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