Can birds smile? With rigid bills, it is probably anatomically impossible for birds to smile in the same way that humans do.
Sometimes, though, a bird will look at me in such a friendly, inquisitive way that it is easy for me to imagine that it is smiling at me. That was the case recently with this female Bufflehead duck (Bucephala albeola) that had cocked her head to the side and looked right at me.
I generally try to approach my subjects as slowly and stealthily as I can so that they will not perceive me as threatening. Of course, most wildlife subjects have much more highly developed senses than I do and they usually catch me in the act. Sometimes they will flee, but if I am lucky, they will simply smile at me.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
The look in the eye tells me it’s smiling.
I am with you there, Dan. Isn’t there a song about Irish eyes smiling? I don’t think the bufflehead is Irish, but he does seem to have smiling eyes. 🙂
Nice Mike! Buffleheads do seem like smiling Happy Ducks!
What a cute duck! Yes, I do believe it is smiling!
Looking coy for the camera! The colour and ripples of the water are gorgeous too. That’d be a beautiful photo to have on the wall.
You captured that personality perfect 👏👏
What a sweet, flirty expression! You are right; she appears to be smiling coyly right at You! I love this. I may need to download it so it can join your hoodies as desktop material. Right now the ducks have been sidelined by a red poodle puppy because my sister is contemplating getting one (poodle, not duck).
Thanks, Nina. “Coy” seems to be the perfect description of the duck’s pose and expression. I must confess that I had to look up red poodles on Google–I never realized that they come in that color. Red poodles are quite striking in appearance, like a lot of people who have naturally red hair.
I had never heard of a red poodle, either, so I googled it too, and that’s how I found the picture of the cute puppy. I decided to use it as my desktop background until my sister acquires her new dog (red poodle or otherwise; the beloved companion she just lost was a Portuguese Water Dog).
Good picture of cooperative natural friend!