Chicks on the Beach

As we do on many evenings, Sheila and I headed out on the kayaks for an evening paddle on one particularly beautiful evening. It was sunny and warm... the lake was calm... the sun was getting low in the sky illuminating everything in that soft evening golden glow. It was the perfect evening for paddling and I was hoping for some good photography.

We headed down toward Boulder Beach at a very relaxed, slow pace. As we approached the beach, we were surprised to find that the beach was quiet. Not a single person was on this beautiful beach on this perfect evening.

We paddled around the swimming area and approached a rougher beach area intended for boats which is adjacent to numerous picnic areas. As we were paddling by this beach, a tiny bit of movement caught my eye... 

As I stopped paddling, I dipped my paddle in the water to turn my kayak so I could look more closely... I could just make out two young duck chicks on the beach. Although they blended in with the sand quite well, I spotted this tiny pair waddling along the shore. 

I grabbed my camera and let the kayak drift toward the beach. Surprisingly, mother duck was quite a distance away as these two chicks scavenged for food and explored the beach.

I was lucky this time in that the sun was behind me and illuminating these chicks very well with a soft golden glow due to the sun being low in the sky. Far too often, I find myself on the opposite side of wildlife with the sun silhouetting whatever I am trying to shoot. My position on this evening was perfect and it was simply by chance!

I managed to fire off a number of shots from my kayak before mother duck came waddling over to direct her chicks into safety behind some shrubs. It is tough shooting with a long telephoto lens from a kayak while trying to hold the camera in my hands as steady as possible but I managed to get a few good shots from our location in the water. After a quick minute or two, mother duck got a little nervous, waddled over to her chicks and hurried them away from us and out of view.

We paddled away happy to have stumbled upon these chicks on the beach!