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.