There is small, classic bottomland swamp near my home. It's a beautiful place with bald cypress, gum and hardwoods throughout. The water flows at a snail's pace as it makes its way to a nearby blackwater creek. If you visited every week throughout the year, you'd find something different on each trip. One of the birds that might be there almost every week would be Wood Duck.

A morning trip recently started well before dawn. We made our way to a blind on the edge of the swamp. As the morning came to life with birds calling and first light, the first wood ducks swam in. It was a drake and hen. They were sometimes tough to follow between the cypress knees and a root ball of a tree toppled by a recent hurricane. It made for a wonderful morning in the swamp.