Tracey Ormerod

Canadian Nature Photographer | Writer

Duck Nap

May 12

A duck napping on one foot with one eye open
From a distance, all I could see was a duck resting in the chaos of downed trees from the recent ice storm. With the help of my camera, there’s more: he’s napping with one eye open, balanced on one leg!
Birds can control which side of their brain remains active while they sleep, in order to stay alert to threats and, because their feet are unfeathered, ducks have adapted to balance on one foot while sleeping in order to conserve body heat.
And we humans fuss about our mattresses and thread counts.