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!
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.
The little baby swans at Lake Morton were so cute. It’s hard not to get all gushy over them. They look so fluffy.
Taken through the fence, the baby swan looked like a dream. The city of Lakeland keeps the baby swans and their parents in fenced pens until they get bigger to keep them safe.
Taking a snooze.
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. I got even luckier. This was the first time I’ve seen baby swans that young swimming with the parents. 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. 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
