Free Republic

The Peregrine Falcon, also known as the Duck Hawk (a fact you won’t soon forget after watching this video), is a spectacular bird of prey. Claiming the title of fastest member of the animal kingdom, a Peregrine Falcon can reach speeds in excess of 200mph during its characteristic high-speed hunting dives — take that cheetah.

"Duck Dynasty" stars Korie Robertson and Willie Robertson just alighted on the swamps of Washington, D.C. ... for an appearance at the White House Corresopndents' Dinner! Just don't tell Tom Brokaw -- as we previously reported, the legendary newsman is boycotting the event after Lindsay Lohan made an appearance last year ... and that was the LAST STRAW.

Did Tiger Woods' actions after he drenched his third shot on No. 15 Friday at Augusta result in him signing an incorrect scorecard, which would result in his automatic disqualification from the Masters? There was no definitive answer and a lot of speculation late Friday. So, while a conclusion has yet to be reached, let's walk through the events in question. After his round Woods said about his shot into the water on No. 15: "I went down to the drop area, that wasn't going to be a good spot, because obviously it's into the grain and it was a...

China's commercial hub Shanghai is stepping up monitoring after a new strain of bird flu killed two people, state media said Monday, as Taiwan announced it would screen travellers from the mainland. More than 16,000 pig carcasses were fished out of the Yangtze River Delta, after they were sickened, there might be a link between the sickened pigs and the bird flu deaths. Virologists also study pigs because they can serve as hosts for bird viruses and human viruses to mix and mutate... Bird flu strain, H5N1, may mutate to spread more easily. It has decimated poultry stocks mostly in...

More than 1,000 dead ducks have been found dumped in the Nanhe River in China's southwestern Sichuan province, days after thousands of dead pigs (that tested positive for porcine circovirus) were dumped in a waterway in Shanghai, state media reported. The dead ducks floating in the (Chang Jiang)... The River is not a source of drinking water for local residents, the report said. A local official said the duck carcasses had been disposed of safely and would pose no threat to humans and livestock along the river..."We have arranged personnel to fish out dead ducks

Cameras were rolling when the family of ducks made a precarious journey across a road. Video here: http://gma.yahoo.com/video/playofday-28969271/mother-duck-leads-ducklings-across-a-busy-highway-30518013.html

They may not have the gravitas of bald eagles or the mysterious allure of condors, but North America's ducks -- a classic harbinger every year of the changing seasons -- have done something remarkable. Scientists say the number of mallards, teals, canvasbacks and other ducks this year has reached the highest level ever recorded, with a total estimate of 48.6 million breeding ducks in Canada and the United States. The number is 7 percent higher than last year, according to a survey released this week from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and 43 percent higher than the historic average...

Mitt Romney's presidential campaign broke with congressional Republicans on Monday by arguing that the individual mandate upheld by the Supreme Court last week is a penalty, not a tax. http://thehill.com/video/campaign/235855-romney-team-agrees-with-obama-mandate-not-a-tax Duck duck who's got the Duck ?

If you want to see some animal and familial abuse done tastily by a bunch of hill folks who got rich making duck calls.. but they like to fish&frog tooo.. A&E now .. Quack.

Hooded Mergansers for the most part. I used to see a greater variety when I was hunting, I can't get far enough off the road these days.

I got out for a while yesterday, a nice sunny day. I was riding with a friend who just isn't in to lurking around mud holes so I really couldn't get serious.I got these pretty little Hooded Mergansers moving down a pond.

I got out just ahead of an oncoming storm today, the Mallards are back The hens were flaked out on the slope around the pond, out of reach, but several drakes were parading along the edge.Most of the local ponds are still low, this one catches runoff from a large parking lot.I saw a lot of Wood Storks today, but none I could get close to.

The start of waterfowl hunting season on public lands in the Sacramento Valley has been delayed by a week due to lingering effects of a wet winter.

An American hunter who abused wounded birds in Western Canada and videotaped his antics is facing a $15,000 fine and a three-year hunting ban in Canada. Jeffery Burdett Foiles, 54, of Pleasant Hill, Illinois, pleaded guilty in an Edmonton court Wednesday to causing unnecessary pain and suffering to a duck, contrary to the Criminal Code.

Sales of new homes in the U.S. saw a modest decrease in the month of June, according to figures released Tuesday by the Commerce Department, with the drop in sales coming as a surprise to economists. New single-family home sales came in at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 312,000 in June, a 1 percent drop from revised figures that showed the May rate at 315,000. Most economists had predicted a slight rebound to an annual rate of 321,000 new home sales. Additionally, the May figures were revised downward from initial reports that showed an annual rate of 319,000.

It was an unlikely place to find a pair of mallard ducks waddling around on a Friday morning. But there they were, in the employee parking lot behind the downtown Coeur d'Alene Press building on the corner of Second and Lakeside. Press workers quickly noticed something wasn't right with the colorful male bird. Protruding from the side of the animal's neck, the employees observed what appeared to be a long needle with a plastic cap on the end. "We immediately thought it must be some sort of tracking device," said Press business office employee Angie Abbott. While another Press staffer...

Disability insurer Aflac Inc fired comedian Gilbert Gottfried as the voice of its iconic duck on Monday after a series of Twitter jokes about the earthquake in Japan, the company's most important market. Since 2000, Gottfried has voiced the duck in the insurer's TV ad campaign in the United States, quacking "Af-LAC!" in the comedian's famously abrasive voice. Gottfried fired off a dozen jokes on the social media service over the weekend, all riffing in one way or another on the devastating earthquake and subsequent tsunami. But the company said his comments "were lacking in humor and certainly do not...

SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Wal-Mart (WMT.N), the world's largest retailer, has apologized for selling duck meat past its expiry date in a store in southwest China's Chongqing region, the official Xinhua News Agency reported on Saturday. A store in the Jiulongpo district was caught by a local market regulator selling smoked tea ducks using the meat. The market regulator was tipped off by a consumer late in February, Xinhua said. Wal-Mart would pay the victims 10 times the price of the ducks as a penalty, the firm told the municipal consumers' association in a statement.

Here's a delightful way to treat your special guy or gal on Valentine's Day, and it's much easier to prepare than you'd suspect. Serve with baked potato and Brussels sprouts. A Black Forest cake would truly be a satisfying and romantic dessert.

SUFFOLK Charles Duck opened the door of his White Marsh Road home on Wednesday, supporting himself with crutches. A week ago today, he'd just come home from the hospital. Shortly before 3 a.m., police said, Duck saw a man trying to load a dog box from Duck's lawn into a pickup. Duck got his gun, went to the window, and yelled at the man to move to the front of his vehicle. Instead, he jumped into the passenger side of his pickup, and Duck, a retired Suffolk police officer, started shooting, police said. "I just got out of surgery the...