My wife and I were at the zoo one day enjoying an exhibit on the native animals from our region.

We live in Oregon in the Pacific Northwest of the U.S.

Specifically, we were looking at some ducks swimming around in an enclosure behind a glass wall.

We could see them up close from both above and below the waterline.

It was a really cool perspective, one that you can't get

when you see these aquatic birds in the wild. There were several species in the enclosure,

northern pintails, buffalo heads, northern shovelers, and ring-necked ducks. We noticed that one duck

was missing a leg. We were like, aw, poor little guy.

Then we spotted another duck with only one leg. And hey, there's another one.

Soon, we were trying to find a duck in there that wasn't missing a leg.

We came to the conclusion that all these birds must have suffered injuries in the wild

and had been rescued and taken in by

the zoo. It kind of warmed our hearts to see this. So now, when I ask someone if they like

ice cream and their response is, do one-legged duck swim in circles? I'll know the answer. No,

they don't. One-legged duck swim pretty well, actually, at least from

what I've seen. And if you don't believe me, go to the Oregon Zoo. Later that day, my wife and I were

asking each other what our favorite animals were from our visit. For me, it was those lame ducks.

Once upon a time, in the early days of my interest in birds, I didn't find

waterfowl all that exciting. Crazy, I know. Now I absolutely love them, and I can't remember

why I used to feel that way. I have so many happy memories of seeing birds like this around the

world. Andean geese in the mountains of Peru, common iters and

whooper swans in the fjords of Iceland, Pacific black ducks in Fiji, and Egyptian geese on the Nile

...