When I have the chance, I will lay down prone in the sand to take pictures of birds. 
 
 
Alright, so I just watched a male mallard (we have a trio down in the area between apartment buildings, they have their daily drama) totally squash a female into the grass (you could hardly see her!) and he held her by the nape of her neck as he awkwardly positioned repositioned himself as he took his sweet time trying to figure out how the heck to get his tail and his manly parts around and under her tail. 

It took awhile. 

She was NOT happy when he let her go. Hissing at him and quack-squeaking. I put my binocs on them and saw he had some bits of light brown feather still attached to the tip of his beak. The female quacked and shook herself out for a bit while the male stayed perfectly still as the second male (trio, remember? he whad been standing on the roof of the adjacent apt bldg) watched on. She finally flew off, two males in quick pursuit. YAY BIRDS, HAPPY SPRING!
 

Follow me on Twitter! twitter.com/stacebird