Some of the geese have all orange beaks and some have the spots on them. Is that a sunburn? Or maybe an age spot?
The black swans were nesting.
The only white pelican at the lake that morning. He looks comfy.
Pretty goose face.
The old man face.
Green and yellow face.
Another pretty goose face. His feathers are darker than the others and I don’t think his eyes are blue.
Pretty faces at Lake Morton in early March. I stopped to see if there were any duck or goose babies. Still a little early.
I had read Kim’s post about the baby muscovy ducks that had been dropped off at the lake and the old Papa Goose is being a surrogate parent. I saw them from across the lake so I sat down for a while and waiting to see if they were heading over my way.
There were only 4 that I saw that morning. One was staying close to Papa Goose. The other 3 were cruising around like they owned the lake.
They floated their way into the lily pads and came near the edge of the lake. I’m sure they came close to see if I had food for them.
When they realized I didn’t, they started eating the bugs off the underneath of the lily pads.
One came on shore for a minute. They are so cute as babies.
I saw what looked like a much younger baby also with them. He was sitting on the ground and didn’t want to move. Maybe he was tired from trying to keep up.
They sat down to rest while Papa Goose stayed out in the water. He kept his eye on me though.
Lake Morton should have it’s own TV show. “Life on the Lake”. So much drama. A few years ago, there was a black swan couple that raised a baby goose. I don’t know whether the parents had abandoned him or something happened to them.
Two or three years ago, someone was stealing swan eggs. The city of Lakeland put up cameras in trees this year to try to catch them. I don’t what came out of that. Did they have fewer eggs stolen this year or catch anyone from the cameras? The city was also taking the baby swans away from the parents and raising them at a facility somewhere else. I think the death rate of baby swans on that lake was pretty high. Out of the tons of babies born this past spring, only a few were released back in the lake. I think I read 7 juveniles were back. So what did they do with the rest of them? Sell them off?
Then you have Papa Goose raising any lost muscovy babies as his own. This is not the first time he’s adopted and raised them.
Every once in a while, something unusual shows up like the lone bufflehead who hung out at the lake for several weeks.
In the winter, you have the bald eagle hanging out on the church cross looking for his next meal in the lake.
Always something going on!
Check out more pictures at Our World Tuesday 
Also, check out more birds at Paying Ready Attention for 
I think that lizard isn’t going to make it.
I thought all of the winter ducks had gone north by now but this ring necked duck was still hanging around.
Black swan preening.
At first glance I didn’t think there were any baby swans yet. All of the moms were sitting down on the nest. Then a swan got up to move around and I could just barely make out the little fuzzballs under her. They still looked wet so they must have been born that morning. It was around lunchtime when I stopped by the lake. She still had two more to hatch.
One of the little babies was pretty wet and fumbling around.
Mom was right there watching them. Dad was close by right next to the nest. I took these through the reeds so they are a little fuzzy.
How cute is that face???
Across the lake was another new mom. This nest had 3 eggs and only one has hatched so far.
I was sitting on the grass and zoomed in on mom’s beak. Yuck. It almost looks like she has tiny teeth.
It feels like spring when the baby animals start popping up everywhere.
Linking up to Saturday’s Critters
I took way too many pictures of this little duck. She’s my first bufflehead. She’s been hanging around Lake Morton in Lakeland for a while. The first time I stopped by there to look for her it was raining and I couldn’t find her. I headed back again a few weeks later and there she was. Hanging out with mallards, moorhens and swans. There hasn’t been too many reported sightings of them in the Tampa Bay area. She really is pretty. I’ll check back on her soon. The swans should be nesting soon and baby ducks should be running around by March.
Mom keeping an eye on everyone.
The gray one on the left was born only 18 hours earlier. The beige ones were born the day before.
Snuggling together.
“You guys make good pillows.”
The youngest one is ready for a nap.
“What am I suppose to do with these big feet?”
“Is there a bug on my neck?”
Parting butt shot.
A shot of the nest with my phone.
I hadn’t planned on stopping by Lake Morton. I was on my way to Circle B Bar Reserve which is only 10 minutes away. It was drizzling on the way to Lakeland and I was thinking I didn’t want to get out on the trails and it start to rain. As I got closer to Lakeland I decided to stop by Lake Morton first and then see how the weather holds up an hour later. I got to the little lake around 8am. I was driving around looking for a good spot to park when I saw a group of people hanging around a swan nest. I thought “There must be babies there.” I parked and walked over and there they were. Three of the cutest fuzz balls ever. Not even 2 days old. The park was taking the babies and raising them offsite due to the thefts of eggs and babies last year so these little ones were probably going to be gone by that afternoon. I was lucky to spend an hour watching them move around. They did not leave the nest while I was there. Both parents were close by. There is also a camera high up in a tree keeping an eye on the nest as well so everyone was on their best behavior. Many people stopped by for a few minutes to get a look at them. How could they not melt your heart?
The sun started to peak out after an hour so I left and headed to the reserve.
Too see more amazing swan family pictures, check out Kim’s blog. She lives near the lake and has caught many wonderful moments of the babies with their parents.
Check out more birds at Paying Ready Attention for 
Baby swans are like cotton balls with feet and a beak. There were two at Lake Morton in Lakeland the morning I stopped by. The first picture was of a baby in a pen. The park rangers put the baby with the parents in a pen for a few weeks until the baby gets a little older and is not so vulnerable to all the dangers. There are a lot there. Eagles and hawks fly over and grab tiny things. Geese, ducks and other swans fight over territory and can be aggressive towards babies. Dogs in the neighborhoods around the lake can get out. It’s a scary life for a baby swan. The fenced in pens have space on the lake as well as grass for them to stay on.
I had been stopping by the lake almost every weekend for a while checking for babies with no luck. Finally, I got word from Jess that she had seen a baby on Friday afternoon and that by Monday the park rangers would put it in the pen. I met up with her on Sunday morning thinking I would stop for a quick visit and ended up staying for almost 3 hours. These cute little fuzz balls stole our hearts and everyone else’s who stopped by. We also saw a handful of baby ducks that morning. More on those later.