My Holy Land of ducks, Mecca, was acknowleged by Kip even in ’45. In discussing the Pacific Flyway and its possibilities Kip noted,
“Down on the Salton Sea you will be doing your shooting below sea level, and the quantities of canvasback and redhead around Mecca are just one more of the many things you will remember about California…”
 And everyone wonders why the canvasbacks are my totem duck… I’m just one girl in long line of Salton Sea duck worshippers.
 But what I love best about Kip’s summation of So Cal duck hunting is the comment:
 ”I always get a laugh out of hearing Southern California sportsman refer to drake shovelers as ‘Hollywood Mallards’…the poor spoonies takes a great deal of kidding in many parts of the United States.
 ”Poor spoonie.” PAH! Those clowns have outdone Anakin time and time again. They have eluded us every time out below sea level. The only shoveler I ever caught was in Amarillo, TX….and it took five people and Matt M. nearly bursting a lung to make it happen.Â
Hollywood Mallards. Done. I’m bringing back that fitting phrase. They will always be Hollywood Mallards to me.
(note to self…need to take more duck photographs…maybe this weekend. Insert photo of drake shoveler here)
