Just liked this one

[MLBob Furia]

Sleeper mallard hen in my "rig du-jour" on one of the last outings of the season this week.

View attachment 16a.jpg

 

[Phil Eager]

nice bird

Phil

 

[Dick Sargeant]

Bob - In some ways your work looks better than the real thing and, I suspect, they are very effective !
sarge

 

[John Unruh]

Nice as always Bob!

 

[Jon Yenulonis]

Yep. That's a good one Bob.

Jon

 

[mike kuhns]

Beautiful!

 

[Tom Rowe]

Great bird. Great photo.

 

[Steve Sanford]

Good morning, Bob~

Gorgeous photo of a gorgeous bird!

...but don't "sleepers" have their eyes closed?

All the best,

SJS

 

[RLLigman]

Steve, he is engaged in USWS!

 

[MLBob Furia]

Figured that Rick would know exactly what was going on! ;-)

She was the lookout on the edge of the spread while catching 40 winks of slow-wave-sleep, using the other hemisphere of her brain to stay alert.

......yea, that's exactly what I was going for ;-) ;-) ;-)


View attachment Sleeperdrake.jpg

 

[Paul Meisenheimer]

Gorgeous! Absolutely stunning. Btw... I have often seen birds in this pose with open eyes.

 

[RLLigman]

From what I recall from Migratory Birds, the landmark uni-hemispheric slow-wave sleep study documentation was conducted using mallards. Since this bird was both at the front and end of the row, she had to be doubly diligent!

 

[MLBob Furia]

Rick,

.... and by the time you got around to the other side, she would have been alerted and had the other eye open. So it's a win / win either way.

 

[RLLigman]

Excellent point!! Now I don't feel guilty for having never made a sleeper decoy with completely closed eyes!

I now know why I don't water swat birds...I can't bring myself to meet their gaze and then move to end their lives!

 

[Carl]

I really like the way she is riding the waves.

 

[Pat Gregory]

Love your sleepers Bob! Pat

 

[Frank santore]

It's a true beauty