Nancy dropped by a friend's house this week, to return a book. Mike greeted her, brandishing a huge fishing net, and tastefully attired in a leather apron.
The occasion? He had opened up his wood furnace to toss in some paper, and been thoroughly hissed at by a furious female merganser. She had somehow managed to fly straight down the chimney, into the cold furnace, and was well and truly trapped.
Efforts to shift her resulted in her retreating farther into the soot and ashes, hissing furiously. With Nancy holding the net firmly across the open door of the furnace, and Mike carefully wielding a long stick into the depths, the merganser was persuaded to make a break for it.
Joanne whipped out the camera to get some pictures once duck and people returned to the light of day.
She ruffled up her crest, to show she was not taking any of this lightly, but once untangled from the net, she happily took flight back onto the lake, shook out her feathers to remove the dust, and then loudly announced her escape to the whole lake.
It was a great opportunity to get a close up of these amazing fishing birds. We see them in the spring, when the males are in their wedding white breeding plumage, and every summer we look forward to seeing the large broods of youngsters being shepherded along the shores.
Aren't they glorious? Great story. But we've got a bear around. Rather have the duck in the stove in My Muskoka!
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