Ducks and gulls at Lake Morton

Ring necked duck

I'm not sure what this is. I couldn't find it in any of my bird books. Maybe some type of mallard?

Ring billed gulls catching some bread. That duck better duck!

I think the ibis said "Hey lady, did you bring any peanut butter to go with this bread?".

A group of male and female ring necked ducks. They were chasing after the bread that people were throwing.

Nice ball on the head.

It all starts with a person strolling into the park with a bag of bread. Chaos happens. Ducks that are normally shy of humans come swimming up. Geese start attacking your ankles.(That happened to me the first time I came to this lake. I was taking pictures and a goose started banging on my ankle. Startled me.) Gulls start diving everyone close by. Ibis by the tons come flying in. Should it be illegal to feed the wildlife? It probably is. I know it's cute and fun for the little kids but do the ducks need to fill up on bread all day. On a Saturday afternoon there are tons of people there feeding them with bread. The geese are the most obnoxious ones. After the one banged his beak on my ankle I stay clear of the crowd and take pictures with my longer lens.

Are they really wildlife if they are being fed on a daily basis?

White pelicans at Lake Morton

Beautiful white pelicans at Lake Morton

The swan just had to get in the picture.

Floating around.

All lined up.

You'd think he'd fall off.

Lakeland is a small town in the middle of Florida. It's halfway between Tampa and Orlando. Their city mascot is the mute swan. There's a small lake in the middle of the city that has a large swan population. People have picnics and walk around the lake and generally hang out with the swans. The swans get fed a lot. Now there's a huge population of white ibis, geese and ducks that are there for a handout. You might also come across a few white pelicans as well. I don't know if these white pelicans migrate back up north for the summer like all of the other white pelicans in the state do. I was here early last summer and there were still a few white pelicans hanging around. White pelicans eat different than brown pelicans do. Brown pelicans dive into the water for their fish. White pelicans swim around the surface and scoop up their fish. Often you see brown pelicans alone but white pelicans are usually in groups. These white pelicans looked pretty. They don't seem to have a rough life here at the lake. 

More on the other fowl at Lake Morton later.

Wood duck family

The colors of a male wood duck are amazing.

Female wood duck with her babies.


Mom with some of her offspring. They were swimming under lily pads.

The female wood duck looks very different from the male. She does have some bright colored accents with the yellow around the eyes and purple on her wings.

It's funny how the wood duck babies look like mallards when they are young.

On a recent trip to Lakeland I found a family of wood ducks. I have been seeing wood ducks more often in the past few months than ever before. The male duck is so beautiful. Why is it in the bird/duck world the male always looks prettier than the female vs. in the human world the perception that females are expected to be prettier? I guess male ducks can't attract the female by showing them their paycheck or buying expensive jewelry for them. But that's just my jaded opinion. Anyway, more baby pictures to come!

Baby swan at Lakeland

I stopped by Lake Morton in Lakeland last weekend to see if there were any babies yet. I was there about a month ago and saw lots of eggs. I only saw one baby swan. There are fenced areas where the swans can go in from the lake to stay and keep away from people walking by. There was one swan pair with a baby staying behind the fence. The last picture is of another swan who seemed to have built her nest outside the fence. It looked as if she was counting her eggs. Hopefully she will have success with all of her eggs.

Black necked stilts

I have only seen black-necked stilts a few times. They are a type of shorebird but I have not seen them on the shore (or beach as we call it in Florida). The ones I have seen were foraging in ditches and a lake. I found this bird all alone at Circle B Bar Reserve in Lakeland. They are very allusive and skittish birds. When they see a human coming they fly off quickly. I was able to snap a few pictures from far away before he saw me and flew off. They are very graceful walking with those long pink legs.

Sandhill crane family

I recently came across a sandhill crane family walking along Polk Parkway in Lakeland. I stopped on the side of the road to get a few pictures. There were 2 parents and 3 babies. I stayed pretty far away. I parked a little ways down the road and walked backwards towards them. I'm sure people driving by where thinking "What is this girl doing?". The family was very cute staying close together. They grazed around for a few minutes in front of me and then wandered off.