Black Bellied Whistling Ducks paid us a visit . . .
I was relaxing in my chair after dinner last night and saw a small flock of birds fly by. I see birds fly by all the time but usually they are white ones, so I don’t get too excited and jump up to see them, but these were dark colored. Pete thought they were the Scarlet Ibis, but I knew they weren’t, I was sure they were ducks. Then in a minute they circled back and landed in the back yard. I was up, grabbed my camera and was out there in a flash. Even before I got out the door to see them better, I knew they were the Black Bellied Whistlers. I had never seen them in my neck of the woods, in fact the only time I have ever seen them is at Venice Rookery, south of us.
There were eight of them. I watched them for over an hour as they first fed at the bottom of our neighbor’s feeder, then they came over to our feeder, then into our gravel yard and one even hopped up on a bench. Then they walked back next door. Then back over here. Most of the time, at least one of the eight stood watch and never ate while the others did. He just kind of wandered around and circled the bunch. Sometimes two stood watch. I was able to get as close as eight feet from them.
They are beautiful birds… feathers boldly colored, and oh, that bright pink/orange beak…wow! I got many pictures of them on the ground and I was hoping they’d fly, but they didn’t.
It was almost 8:00 and I was losing light, so I came in. A little while after I came in, I looked back out in the yard and they were still there, all together in the middle of the yard. I read where they only were discovered in this area of central Florida in the early 1980s. They are more common in Texas and Mexico. They live in ground nests or in hollow trees. And they do eat seed waste, so that’s probably why they loved feeding at the base of the bird feeders.
In this collage, the top row they are all the same duck, and in the bottom row those are four different ducks. Don't ask me why I did this, just playing around.....
Eyes . . .
These next 6 are them coming into the gravel part of our yard. They seemed timid about crossing from the grass into the gravel, but finally they all made it.
All in . . .
The lookout at a vantage point . . .
Pete got up before me this morning and said they were in the back yard, but something soon scared them and they flew away.
I wonder if they’ll be like Ernie and keep coming back.
There were eight of them. I watched them for over an hour as they first fed at the bottom of our neighbor’s feeder, then they came over to our feeder, then into our gravel yard and one even hopped up on a bench. Then they walked back next door. Then back over here. Most of the time, at least one of the eight stood watch and never ate while the others did. He just kind of wandered around and circled the bunch. Sometimes two stood watch. I was able to get as close as eight feet from them.
They are beautiful birds… feathers boldly colored, and oh, that bright pink/orange beak…wow! I got many pictures of them on the ground and I was hoping they’d fly, but they didn’t.
It was almost 8:00 and I was losing light, so I came in. A little while after I came in, I looked back out in the yard and they were still there, all together in the middle of the yard. I read where they only were discovered in this area of central Florida in the early 1980s. They are more common in Texas and Mexico. They live in ground nests or in hollow trees. And they do eat seed waste, so that’s probably why they loved feeding at the base of the bird feeders.
In this collage, the top row they are all the same duck, and in the bottom row those are four different ducks. Don't ask me why I did this, just playing around.....
Eyes . . .
These next 6 are them coming into the gravel part of our yard. They seemed timid about crossing from the grass into the gravel, but finally they all made it.
All in . . .
The lookout at a vantage point . . .
Pete got up before me this morning and said they were in the back yard, but something soon scared them and they flew away.
I wonder if they’ll be like Ernie and keep coming back.