Marsh Spike-Rush

Stopped short when Indy and I got to Gorgeous Gorge.  There on the pond were a pair of mallard ducks.  I'm reading a book on China and just finished the section on the "Great Leap Forward - 1958 to 1961".  Mao Zedong's plan was to make China great by exporting it's crops and steel.  To help ensure a bountiful harvest, Mao declared war on sparrows because they ate some of the grain.  Mao suggested killing them by making noise so they would have to keep flying until they were exhausted, pulling down their nests, and shooting them w/ slingshots.  Of course, in a few years, the Chinese realized the birds were beneficial - eating more insects than seeds - and put an end to the nonsense.  Still, after reading all of this, I just didn't have the heart to go any closer and scare the mallards into flight.  We took a different path on our walk.