For my birthday (I'm 103, okay?) my buddies Steve and Jim gave me binoculars. Mine were busted, and when Jim and I went birdwatching in Florida in December, he had to bring two pairs. So they gave me these, and they're wonderful! Better than any I've ever had before. Down at the river this morning I got a good look at the gadwalls who stay way out at the end of the pier, and at the brant geese practicing their takeoffs and landings for the trip north. I'm almost as much of a menace with these as I am with the camera, and don't think it hasn't occurred to me to find a way to shoot photos through them. Luckily for you I'm really not that good with equipment.

But listen, all you birders. I was in Central Park this afternoon without the binocs -- didn't know I was headed there, is why, but had some time to kill -- and I saw a white duck, or some water bird, swimming around with the mallards, and upending itself to feed in the shallows with them. It was bigger than they, and they didn't like it and tried to chase it, but it was the only one of its kind and obviously uncomfortable without a flock. It had brown on the tail and head, but not nearly as dark and defined as the pictures Sibley's shows of a canvasback, which was as close as I could find. And canvasbacks are the same size as mallards, or smaller. This was definitely bigger. Any thoughts?