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!

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!

Wildlife in Crossville, TN

 

Last week I was up in my former community of Crossville, TN for a few days.  I took these pictures of an American Robin; a Cotton-tail Rabbit; a Brown Thrasher; a male Red-winged Blackbird; a male Eastern Bluebird; a family of Wood Ducks and  Canada Geese during this visit. I had limited time and was quite busy, so I did not get to take as many photographs as I would have liked to.   I took these pictures at the Spring Lake RV Park near Fairfield Glade, which is just outside of Crossville, TN.  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!

 

 

 

More Ducks

Mallard Ducks

Mallard Ducks and Wood Ducks are the ducks I am showcasing today.  I saw these two pairs of ducks on the large lake that I have a house on.  The Mallards were paddling next to the neighbor’s dock and then took off for the far end of the lake.  I also happened to photograph a pair of Wood Ducks in flight along the middle of the lake.    Sometimes ducks are flying slow and that is helpful when taking pictures of them.  That was the case when I took these pictures on March 4, 2013.  Please click on the thumbnail image to view the larger photo.  Enjoy!

Mallard Ducks

Wood Ducks