This beautiful young mute swan was taking a bath at Lake Morton in late November.
The white ducks are cute but aggressive, looking for a handout.
Ibis flyby.
One of the black necked swans at the lake.
A wood duck and a ring billed duck couple.
The cypress trees were turning orange.
Lots of pretty swans on Lake Morton.
The cormorants were getting all their “ducks” all lined up.
In a flash, I saw the male northern shoveler flying away. He was very skittish. Then a ring necked duck came in for a landing.
A lady was feeding the ducks some cracked corn (which is what they should be eating instead of bread).
Drying off on the lake.
One of the black necked swans.
A black swan working on a nest.
A young mute swan.
A young and an old wood stork.
One of the shelducks at Lake Mirror.
A pied grebe hiding in the reeds,
Cormorants and anhingas drying off in the sun. The first bird in the top picture is an anhinga. The rest are cormorants. Anhingas have a straight beak and spear their fish. Cormorants have a curved beak and hook their fish.
Threes a crowd.
All taken at Lake Morton and Lake Mirror in downtown Lakeland. The small lakes are just a few minutes apart so it’s easy to do quick walks around both before heading home.
The pretty white pelicans will be gone soon. They will be heading north for the summer. I’ve only seen one at this lake all winter until recently. They must be stopping over for a rest before their long flight home.
The resident swans are all priming and flirting. Several couples are already sitting on eggs.
One of the juvenile swans born this past spring. They are the size of the adults but don’t have their white feathers yet or orange beaks. I only saw 4 there a few weeks ago. I thought I had read that 7 were released back to the lake. They may have just been sleeping under a bush somewhere else.
It looks like this one was posing.
“Hey, wait for me.”
They came close to me looking for a handout.
Getting a drink.
“Ha Ha, you’re funny lady.”
Last one of the four I saw that morning.
A mottled gray version of the black swan.
An adult mute swan taking a bath.
Black swans on the lake.
One of the two black neck swans at the lake. The other was a little farther back.
The morning was perfect. A decent breeze for mid-August over the lake. I hadn’t seen the juvenile swans since they were tiny babies so I had to go back before the winter to see them before they were all white. They were very curious, coming close to me. The lake was full of swans in all colors. Black, white, gray and fuzzy baby tan.
Linking to Saturday’s critters