Article: BACK-YARD BIRDING; Birders have a whale of a time waiting for ducks to surface.(HOME & GARDEN)

Byline: Jim Williams

Special to the Star Tribune

It's as if we're on a whale-watch. They dove about a minute ago, almost a half mile away, down with a white splash against the indigo water. We wait. Our spotting scope sits focused on the piece of lake where we saw them last. Meanwhile my birding partner and I scan left and right with our binoculars. We wait.

They're up! Four dozen or more!

No, not whales this time. These are long-tailed ducks. Another sparkling raft of these Arctic breeders, with their chop-stick tails, frolick in Lake Superior's Good Harbor Bay on a warm Saturday in December.

I've done this before, in ...

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