Tag Archives: lake morton

A stop at Swan Lake on the way home

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While my sisters were visiting in late February we drove over to Disney Spring early for some shopping (mostly looking though and getting a good walk in) and lunch. We decided to break up our 2 hour drive home by stopping at Lake Morton (aka Swan Lake) in Lakeland and get out to look around. There were only 2 baby swans from a black swan couple but there were a lot of nests.

Redheads and ring neck ducks are easy to find in the winter. There were several that were swimming close to the edge of the lake.

A young ring billed gull sits on top of one of the swan food feeders that sit on the edge of the lake. He looked pretty with his matching pink feet and beak.

The usual skittish wood ducks were coming close to the edge of the lake as well. One walked right up on the grass in front of me.

Balance act.

The small pod of white pelicans were still there, napping and preening on the brick wall.

The pink trumpet tree was in full bloom.

Baby quackers everywhere

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I stopped by Lake Morton in downtown Lakeland on my way back from Lake Wales in late April. I wasn’t sure what I would find but I wasn’t expecting to see so many wood duck babies. The first family I saw had 7 babies. They were napping close to Mom (it was after lunch at this point). 

Dad was standing near the family. These guys are usually pretty skittish so it was weird to see him walking around on the grass.

I found another family a little ways around the lake. This Mom had 4 babies (one was tucked under her).I think wood duck babies have the prettiest faces.

Farther around the lake and I found another Mom with just one baby.

A couple was swimming out in the middle of the lake.

On the other side of the lake another Mom had 7 babies and they were swimming around under the big leaves. As I stood there taking pictures, Mom came up on the rock and the babies followed.

Then I found a Mom with 3 babies.

There was one Muscovy family and I couldn’t resist taking pictures of those fuzzy yellow duckies.

This was a fun afternoon. The amount of wood ducks on this lake seem to get bigger every year. I’m assuming the numbers get smaller in the summer with some of them migrating north during the hot months. I usually don’t get over to Lakeland during the heat of the summer so I’m not sure.

A walk around a lake

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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.

Getting frisky in the spring.

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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.

Critters in Lakeland in early March

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Out at Circle B Bar Reserve in early March, I was greeted by a tricolored heron and a kingfisher, both flying by.

Green herons are common along the trail but I can’t help but take more pictures of them.

I saw this great blue heron high up in a tree doing a mating dance. They look straight up and bob up and down. It looks like he, or she, was sitting on a nest already. I guess she was ready to start a family.

Here comes another one. Maybe a looking for a mate? She did not want any part of him as she screamed at him.

He flew around in a circle and still came back to land on the same tree. She chased him off so maybe that wasn’t her boyfriend.

I stopped by Lake Morton near downtown Lakeland on the way home. This male black necked swan had already started a family. I saw him walking over to the nest and his mate, a mute swan, left. He checked the eggs out and then sat on them while she went out for a walk (or to look for a snack). The black neck swan had a mate, also a black necked, for several years before she was hit by a car in early 2020.  They were the only pair so now the lone male has taken a mute swan as a mate so it will be interesting to see how those babies turn out.

A blue winged teal taking a nap.

I’ve been told the gray swans here are offspring of mute swans and black swans that had paired up. There are several on the lake.

An anhinga posing for me.

The baby black swans are growing up fast. They looked so cute cuddling together.

Black swan (not the ballet)

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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.

Black swan families

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Yes, the above pictures look like similar pictures but there were two different black swan families at Lake Morton in late April.  Both had triplets.  One of the families had darker babies and the other family’s babies still had lighter gray heads. They were all floating around the same area near the swan pens.

Both families started to float closer together near the vegetation and a scuttle started. The parents were not happy being so close together. The darker baby family chased the lighter gray family back over to their side of the pond. I tried to get all of the action but they were to close to fit them all in and it happened so fast.

The lighter gray babies hurried over to their side and then relaxed and started to preen and take baths.

This baby looked so elegant as she started to preen and fluff her feathers.

The darker gray baby family headed out across the pond. It was fun to sit back on the grass and watch all of the swans going about their day. I’m sure it’s a tough job raising kids on this lake much less three at a time.

Lake Morton and Circle B Bar Reserve

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I do have sad news. Morty, the wild turkey that had been living at Lake Morton for a few months was found dead in the lake. He made it long past Thanksgiving and Christmas. I haven’t heard what had caused it but that’s a tough lake to live on. So many aggressive swans and muscovy ducks there. No one ever said where he came from, he just showed up at the lake and stayed for a while.  I had taken the above in early December.

Ducks were already getting frisky in early December even though we still had a cold spell to get through.

This morning it was dark and cloudy and I was standing at the lake watching the ducks when an eagle fly by. Since the lake was quiet, I left and headed over to Circle B Bar Reserve.

It was a quiet morning. A swamp sparrow came out from the bushes and the trail was full of blue gray gnatcatchers as usual.

Nothing new on the trail this morning. It wasn’t until a visit in late January that I saw a new bird but more on that later.

I did see this mom and her two almost grown kids just walking down the trail. They would stop and sniff into the bushes but then pop back out on the trail and continue to cruise. Raccoon butts are so cute! They stayed in front of me on the trail for a while.

Even though it was quiet it was still a good walk.  I didn’t stay too long, in by 8am and out by 10am.

Pelicans, wood ducks and swans (Oh my!).

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Lake Morton in Lakeland is a good spot to find white pelicans in the winter besides Fort Desoto. There are a lot fewer at Lake Morton but you can usually get closer. They hang out on the brick retaining walls around the lake. Most of the time they are sleeping when I’m there but on a recent trip they were moving around a little. I think two of them were fighting over space on the floating pole.

A coot swimming by.

Wood ducks were napping up in the cypress trees and some were swimming around the lake.

There’s always turtles sitting on the cypress knees.

The city of Lakeland were selling swans in late October. When I was there they were in holding pens on the lake. I felt bad that they were leaving their home but there have been banner crops of babies over the last few years and the lake is over-run with swans. Swans were getting hit by cars and fighting with each other. Hopefully they’ll go to homes that have more room for them. If I had a small pond on my property I would buy a pair. The money goes back into the fund to feed the swans at this lake.