[Photos By: KPA]
The most conspicuous of the ducks is the male mallard duck. Its iridescent head, glowing with gold tints, is truly beautiful. Its body, a fluffy down, inviting touch, is equally attractive.
But it is the subtly of the female that wins my points.
Here are a mallard duck couple. They didn't seem to mind my intrusion, as long as I didn't get more than two feet to close. Then they just simply quacked. And I obliged.
I had my weapon, my camera with its super-zoom lens, which can take tele-photo close-ups. And a close-up of the female's feathers was truly surprising.
There is a stroke of a blue-purple, in just one area, near the bottom of the abdomen, which brandishes and identifies this feminine counterpart. Nothing flashy, but present, all the same.
If only human females would learn this art of subtlety, and let that indomitable male shine, or let him let her shine.
But, I prefer the art of the mallard. A stroke of purple is all it takes.
