Can't Duck the Duck Sightings

The naturalists are quacking at me from two different places.

Duck volunteer Brian Murphy contributed a couple pictures of wood ducks from Civic Park. Some of last year's ducklings are returning to nest in the urban creeks of Walnut Creek, he says. A mile to the south, a wood duck couple has been hanging around San Ramon Creek in the Creekside area.

Martinez Patch columnist Jeannine Gendar reports on sightings of hooded mergansers from Moraga to Martinez. She says two pairs have been paddling around at Heather Farm Park in Walnut Creek and the famous beaver dam on Alhambra Creek in Martinez. Gendar says there are reports that mergansers are expanding their breeding area into California.