Tag Archives: cream mallard

Hoodies in my hood.

Posted on by
1

I ran into Blondie on my walk around the neighborhood pond.

Later I came back with my camera (really to shoot the hoodies below and she just happen to be there).

It’s not often I see hooded mergansers in my own duck pond. Usually we just have mallards and muscovy ducks. I was heading home one Saturday afternoon and saw the big white circle on his head out of the corner of my eye and turned around. Luckily I had my camera in the car and was able to hide behind a tree for a few minutes when they swam by. They are very skittish.

The tricolored heron standing near the old fountain (that’s never turned on anymore) was looking at me like I was crazy.

Lots of babies

Posted on by
3

It’s always fun to see baby swans. Both mute swans and black swans had babies at Lake Morton in early May.

A tiny limpkin baby hiding in the reeds while mom looks for food.

Baby mallards looking for bugs.

An older baby mallard.

Pretty ducks and swans.

White pelicans were still hanging around the lake.

Pretty weeds growing along the bank of the lake.

image-in-ing: weekly photo linkupOur World Tuesday Graphic

A ducky morning at Lake Morton

Posted on by
1

One place I consistently see wood ducks is at Lake Morton. Someone put a nest box right on the edge of the lake but I haven’t been back over there since early April to see if they had babies in the box.

Moorhens and coots at the lake. Moorhens have red beaks and they live here all year long. Coots have white beaks and are only here during the winter and early spring.  They go back up north for the summer but there were a few stragglers in April.

One of my favorite ducks at the lake. Some type of hybrid mallard.

Across the lake, something had spooked the ruddy ducks and caused them to start scooting across the lake.

They all started taking off and landed on the other side of the lake. They are pretty skittish and don’t come close to the edge of the lake.

In Our Yard.

Posted on by
3

Late summer babies. Blondie came back in August with another new baby.

The usual critters in our yard during the past few months.

One day I came home from work and grabbed the mail from the mailbox that is on the side of our house next to the front door. This guy came out with the mail. I dropped the mail to the ground and was glad he didn’t land on me. I think I woke him up.

The muhly grass blooms pink in the fall. These started blooming in late October.

Different skies in the front and back yards.

Our World Tuesday Graphicimage-in-ing: weekly photo linkup

Backyard visitors this spring.

Posted on by
1

In late spring, I heard some birds screaming in the backyard. I peeked out the bedroom window and saw the above, baby starlings being fed by the parents.  I ran and grabbed my camera and took the above through the window. I didn’t want to go outside and spook them.  These almost fully grown babies were very aggressive, almost attacking the parents to be fed. This went on for 20 minutes. They must have wiped out all of the worms, bugs and caterpillars we had in the backyard. Maybe I should have scared them off.

This was the last I saw of my neighborhood kingfisher back in late April, sitting on our dock. Hopefully she’ll show back up in late October again.

Now we get a lot of house sparrows on our dock.

A little blue heron walking through our yard.

Blondie and her babies came by the house recently. This beautiful cream colored mallard lives in our neighborhood. She usually has 2 sets of babies each year.