I stopped by Lake Morton in Lakeland in early August on my way back from Bok Tower Gardens. I wasn’t expecting to see much since it was August and hot. Right away I found some of the young swans that were born earlier in the spring.
They were busy preening and ignored me.
There were several adult gray swans (I’ve heard they are kids of the mute and black swans).
There were also some juvenile wood ducks swimming close by.
Bathing beauties!
The young black swans were almost grown up in late April although they were half the size of the parents and still fuzzy gray. I stopped by Lake Morton on the way home from Bot Tower Gardens and did a walk around the lake before heading home.
This black swan was still sitting on eggs. It looks like she had 3 of them.
There were lots of young mute swans at various ages as well.
This mute swan was checking out her eggs.
Some of the swans were still flirting.
There was a small flock of white pelicans still hanging around. I didn’t think they stayed here all year round but they should have headed north by now. I love those pink and orange beaks.
Even the laughing gulls were flirting. It’s weird to see gulls at this lake since it’s in the middle of the state but there’s always a lot of them here. Maybe because people feed the ducks and swans so the gulls are trying to get a free handout.
A baby moorhen walking around in the grass with those big feet.
I heard some noise near the top of the cypress trees and realized there was a great blue heron nest up there with some almost grown babies.
A turtle posing for me.
You know it’s spring when the mute swans at Lake Morton in Lakeland start mating. I was walking around the lake and saw this pair swimming around together and the fun started right in front of me.
I’m assuming she put up a struggle because it went on forever and at first I thought he was going to drown her. They floated close to a pair of black swans and the black swans seemed disturbed by it.
I thought she got away but he went after her again. At this point the black swans started to chase them and then she kept swimming into them. After a few seconds the black swans ducked out.
It felt like it went on forever, much longer than I’ve ever seen before but it was probably only a minute or two. The male finally got his way and they split up.
They both started to preen and bath and of course the male stood up showing off.
I was at Lake Morton in Lakeland at the end of January and happened to catch some black swans getting frisky. I first noticed the couple swimming together close to shore and watched them flirt for a while. They were wrapping their necks around each other and taking turns dunking their heads under water. It was like a ballet. The end was over pretty quickly.
There was already a black swan couple that had 2 babies.
It never gets old watching the baby swans playing. They were so fuzzy.
I did take notice of a pair of ring necked ducks cruising by.
They grow up so fast. Baby black swans that are teenagers at this point.
It’s nice to see more black swans around the lake.
Looks like this swan was getting restless,watching for her babies to hatch.
I took so many pictures of these little guys. They were very curious.
Most of the swans were nesting when I walked around Lake Morton in late April. Only a few babies had been born and they were already all grown up. The city has each nest roped off so people don’t get too close. The swans can be very aggressive if you come near the roped off area.
Linking to Saturday’s Critters
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