Two Mallards, A Wood Duck, and A Fen

Indy and I walked down to the gravel pit.  On the way there we pass two ponds connected by a fen. 

Thought  I could hear ducks.  The first pond was frozen.  I walked along the edge of the field to the second one and it was frozen over too.  I suspected the fen was open.  It was hidden from the path by trees but there is an isthmus of land that skirts behind the trees on the edge of the larger pond so we took that way.  Yes.  The fen which is very shallow was all open water.  It's still too cold for frogs.  Which got me to thinking that the special on the menu is always Fish Fry on Fridays right now.   I've tried to understand the concept behind the Roman Catholic ban on eating meat on Fridays but it defies my ken.  Until the 60's meat was forbidden on every Friday of the year.  Then the Church decided to leave it to the discretion of the church leaders in each country.  U.S. Bishops opted for just the Fridays during Lent.  Even w/ that shortened period of time some archbishops issue a dispensation when St. Patrick's falls on a Friday so parishioners can eat corned beef.  The Church also defined 'meat' as coming from land animals.  Fish is considered in a different category.  I don't know what this new food category is called.  Birds fall under  'meat'  - even if they are sea birds.  Alligators, interestingly, are considered in that 'other category' like fish so they can be eaten on Fridays. (Think that had more to do w/ the archbishops in Louisiana than the ones in Rome.)   'Other' also encompasses amphibians.  Not sure where insects fall.   It seems to me that it would be easier for the Roman Catholic Church to shorten the rule to ectotherms (cold-blooded animals) are not 'meat' but endotherms (warm-blooded animals) are.  However, then I realized tuna and some sharks are endothermic while echidnas and mole-rats are kinda ectothermic.  By this time Indy and I had hiked all the way back home and I was happy to drop that whole line of thought.  Oh - if you didn't follow how I got onto this subject it was because I was thinking soon there will be lots of frogs about and wondered why Friday Frog-Leg Fry wasn't a thing.