Wood Ducks at Tuscawilla Park

Wood Ducks were spotted at Tuscawilla Park in Ocala, Florida on Tuesday, January 4, 2017.  I had an errand in Ocala so we decided to check on what was going on wildlife-wise at Tuscawilla.  Mostly ducks, cormorants, ibis, and a few Wood Storks.  No pelicans or herons at all on that occasion.

The Wood Ducks are especially beautiful.  Notice that one of the hens is very light in color.  I may have photographed this leucastic hen two years ago there.  The leucastic color is just a faded color on the feathers and is a rare condition, probably a genetic mutation.

Wood Ducks eat fish, crayfish, frogs, tender small turtles, and aquatic insects for the most part.  Occasionally they will also eat grains and fruit.  They nest up perhaps ten feet or more in trees where the ducklings glide out onto the ground as pretty-much new hatchlings.  That always amazes me.  The nests are usually in hollowed out spaces in trees or in specially made “Duck boxes” on posts on the immediate shore or in the water on poles.

Please click on the thumbnail image to see the slightly larger version of the picture.  Enjoy!

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Birds and Waterfowl in Fairfield Glade, TN

Female Red-winged Blackbird on Spring Lake

I took these pictures of various waterfowl and birds in beautiful Fairfield Glade, TN when I was there last week on personal business.  I thought I’d share a few snapshots taken at two of the smallest of the lakes there at the resort community.  I took these pictures on April 7, 2015 and April 8, 2015.  Please click on the thumbnail image to see the larger picture.  Enjoy!

Pied-billed Grebes on Spring Lake

Male Red-winged Blackbird on Spring Lake

A Pair of Wood Ducks on Lake Oxford

Everything is Just Ducky!

 

Black-bellied Whistling Ducks

Hooded Mergansers

 

Black-bellied Whistling Ducks

Here are some of the ducks I have spotted in the last several weeks in Marion County, Florida.  I saw all except the Florida Mottled Ducks at Tuscawilla Park in Ocala.  The small group of Mottled Ducks was spotted at one of the golf course rainfall retention ponds here in the development where I live.  The Musvovies and the Pekins are domestic (farm) ducks but the others are all wild ducks.   Please click on the thumbnail image to see the larger photo.  Enjoy!

Muscovy Ducklings and Hen

Muscovy Duck

Hooded Mergansers

 

Wood Ducks

Pekin Ducks

Florida Mottled Ducks

Wood Ducks and Hooded Mergansers at Tuscawilla Park

Wood Ducks and Hooded Mergansers were among the many migratory birds I saw at Tuscawilla Park in Ocala, FL, on January 20, 2015, and January 23, 2015.  One of the hen Wood Ducks was unusually light colored, a “Leucastic” coloring.

There were just a handful of each of the Wood Ducks and the Hooded Mergansers among the throng of Black Bellied Whistling Ducks and a few domestic Muscovy and Pekin Ducks that are year around park ducks.  Please click on the thumbnail image to see the larger picture.  Enjoy!

Two Wood Duck Families on the Dead River

Wood Ducks are quite gorgeous!  I was happy beyond measure to have seen a double family of Wood Ducks on the Dead River in Central Florida on Friday, April 25, 2014.  Friends of mine invited me out for a day-long boating journey and we enjoyed seeing a lot of riparian wildlife.

This particular group of Wood Ducks was amazing!  There were two father drakes, two mother hens, and twenty-three ducklings!  What a sight!  I noticed several duck boxes along the banks of this rather lake-like river.  This river gets its name from the geographical characteristic of the river dead-ending into land and having a very slow current.  Yes, the Dead River is full of life and I am so glad!  Please click on the thumbnail image to see the larger picture.  Enjoy!

 

 

 

A Young Wood Duck Flies

This older Wood Duck duckling was startled yesterday when I walked near the pond’s shoreline.  It was previously hiding in the rushes and reeds along the shore.  The little Wood Duck is likely a hen.  It was hatched here on the pond earlier this Summer.  The trio of these older ducklings have split up a bit now.

We had a lot of rain yesterday as we have been having the remnants of the former hurricane Isaac.  Just a lot of heavy downpours and a bit of wind.  It came in waves of rains all day.  I was out for a few minutes between rains.  The Wood Ducks are here all year-long and mainly spend their days between the pond and the nearby small private lake.  I took these pictures on Sept. 2, 2012 in my yard.  Please click on the thumbnail image to see the larger photo.  Enjoy!

Wednesday’s Woodpeckers & Wood Ducks

The Red-headed Woodpecker family has been out and about as have the older trio of Wood Ducklings.  The dark headed Red-headed Woodpecker is a juvenile.  The  adult shown in the picture is an adult.  Adult Red-headed Woodpeckers have the scarlet red-head and neck and have much clearer white and black backs.  The juvenile Red-headed Woodpeckers have slight barring on the back and faint black spotting on their bellies.

The Wood Duck ducklings are the older ducklings born here this past Spring.  There also are a pair of ducklings born later on in the Summer but I have not seen them around.  They may be out on the nearby lake.  The Wood Ducks are quite shy.  I was happy to see these beautiful ducks, though from a long distance, yesterday.  I took all of these pictures just after it had stopped raining in the late afternoon here in the yard.  Please click on the thumbnail image to see the larger picture.  Enjoy!