Landa Park in New Braunfels is a reliable site in winter for what is widely considered to be North America’s most beautiful and photogenic duck. The wintering Wood Ducks here opt for the easy life, coming to bread and showing at close range, meaning the quite spectacular colors of the male can be fully appreciated.

Alongside them, it was interesting to see 20 or so Lesser Scaup also competing voraciously for scraps of bread …. the Wood Ducks aren’t the only wild ducks turning to human handouts here!

A short afternoon walk beside the lake also turned up an unexpected sighting of a Ringed Kingfisher. This enormous kingfisher is widespread in Latin America, but its range only just extends into south Texas, and the birds regularly seen here are close to the northern limit of their range. It can be readily distinguished from the much commoner Belted Kingfisher not only by its size, but also its vivid all-chestnut underparts, and a much louder and harsher call.

2015 Year Ticks: Wood Duck, Ringed Kingfisher (total 1,110).