Thanks! I seldom use a tripod, but since I was in the car, I just balanced the Canon 400mm lens against the window. My Canon EOS 40D needs strong light from behind and to be close to work well, so I was glad the Buffleheads came as close as they did..about 40 feet away while fighting. As to why they were fighting, Buffleheads are monogamous, at least for a few years at a time, so apparently the newcomer male was defending his mate of choice that year. Perhaps she'd not yet made up her own mind because she kept approaching the single male, bobbing her head, and he'd bob back. Whenever he noticed this the first male would attack and drive the single male away, even though the single male kept trying to continue his foraging dives between attacks. These sea ducks are among the last to migrate to their breeding grounds in Canada, where they use Northern Flicker and Pileated Woodpecker holes by small lakes (link to Bufflehead pdf files http://seaduckjv.org/infoseries/buff_sppfactsheet.pdf ) For the Wood Ducks, I crawled into an old slab wood lean-to blind and balanced the lens against a cross bar. They are very jittery and I've not been able to sneak up on them since

I don't agree. I have pet geese and when they making a nest across our ditch, the little ones would getting stuck in it because they can't climb on narrow walls like their parents do. Parents don't always know what is better. If I need to get the babies and parents are trying to attack, I normally just grab it by the neck close to its head and hold down its wings with the other hand. But don't pull or try to pick up it up by neck. Just hold its head so they can't bite you. After that you can restrict the mother in some box until babies are moved. Incubation period for my geese is around 30 days.

Yes, I got a lot of banging on my ceiling. Turns out the canadian geese was having a party on my roof. Paul

Cathy. . .well, the best time to come to the northern California coast would be ***right now***, but plan for just about *any* weather. Currently, we're in the middle of a heatwave. That's due to change come Thursday. Some mild showers are expected for Friday and Saturday. . .for the **best** in terms of the warmest weather? Believe it or not, typically, *October* is warmest. :) EVERYONE: thank you for your kind comments and posts. I am happy to have brought smiles. . .this series is the shortened version of one I am compiling into a coffee table book. . .details to come soon if you're interested. :)