"This ""small, chubby duck"" (Peterson quote) always reminds me of a rubber ducky toy for the bathtub. There were about 6 ruddys on the lake this afternoon, joining the pack of birds being fed by a little boy on the dock. I noted here and also over in Oceanside on Jan 11 that the ruddys were not holding their tail feathers out of the water -- is this a seasonal thing?"