It has been unseasonably mild in the Ottawa area this year and many migrating birds have not flown south. On December 27, the weather changed overnight and temperatures fell significantly catching many of them off guard. I was out testing my new Tamron 70-300mm VC USD when I came upon a flock of ducks in a cove off the Ottawa River. There was ice on some of the water and bits of ice on some of the ducks. The next day, the region got almost a foot of new snow which I'm fairly certain did little to improve the mood of this particular flock.