Lots of cormorants cruising across Lake Morton.
Cleaning up for the ladies. It’s nesting time around the lake.
Seven swans a sleeping?
Posing for me.
“Got a cigarette lady” Talk about timing. I was taking pictures with my long lens of the swan preening far out in the lake when I heard a noise right in front of me on the edge of the lake and saw these two getting frisky. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and snapped these. More baby swans coming around the lake.
The swans at Lake Morton were showing off in early April. It was mating season for all of the critters at the lake.
Lots of couples floating around together.
No “rooms” for these couples. They were getting frisky right there at the lake.
Even the geese were getting frisky. Although, not sure what was going on with this threesome. They are always together.
Later, they were strutting around looking very proud of themselves.
Lots of action at Lake Morton in downtown Lakeland. It felt like a warm spring day and all of the ducks, geese and swans were feeling it.
The Lakeland swans get fed at Lake Morton by the city through stations around the lake. The ducks can’t reach the station but they hang close by hoping to get some droppings.
In the winter you can usually find a few ring billed ducks with the swans.
The lake is mainly full of mute swans but there is also a pair of black neck swans. There are several fully gray swans that people think they are a hybrid of the mute and black swans.
White pelicans were circling around the lake during my recent walk.
Someone was feeding the ducks. People come to feed the ducks and swans but it’s the ibis that steal the food. A few ibis show up and all of sudden tons of them come flying across the lake to get in on the free food. They started attacking the people so they got in their car and left.
Sometimes things just work out. I was heading home after a long walk at Circle B Bar Reserve and decided to stop by Lake Morton near downtown Lakeland for a quick walk around the small lake. I was hoping to find some baby wood duck families since there have been a lot of wood duck couples hanging around the lake. Â I got even luckier. This was the first time I’ve seen baby swans that young swimming with the parents. Â The little twins were very curious pecking at everything but they stayed close to the parents. I sat down on the grass and took a ton of pictures. All of these were taken in late April with my 300mm lens and were extremely cropped.
They grow up so fast. Â 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. Â 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. Â 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. Â 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
I stopped at Lake Morton in early April to see if any of the swan babies were born yet. No babies but there were nests all around the lake. The nests are roped off with big signs to leave the nest alone and don’t go near it. They also have cameras in the trees since a few years ago someone was stealing the eggs.
Nice day for a swim. It was noon when I got to the lake and the sun was high up.
The black neck swan couple are still hanging around.
This turtle came up on the bank for a nap.
The white ibis are in their breeding colors with that bright red beak.
Going, going
Gone. To sleep. It always feels like spring when you see baby ducks.
Later they were hiding under mom.
Lots of pairs of swans together.
The black neck swans swim by me.
A tree was full of these buds. I just found out it’s a Kapok tree. I’d love to have one in my yard.
Even though there were no swan babies yet, it was a beautiful spring day.
Swans in the fog.
Cruising by.
Gotta itch!
Another itch!
Black swan with friends.
Posing for me.
Mallard with a hybrid following behind.
The lake was of ring neck ducks.
The morning I went looking for the bufflehead at Lake Morton was foggy. When I got to the lake I couldn’t see across it the fog was so thick. A few swans came close to the edge of the lake. Luckily the fog lifted fairly quickly and I found the bufflehead so off I went to another park.
