Muscovy Duck at Lake Seminole Park - February 2009

I see this Muscovy Duck at Lake Seminole Park everytime I visit.

But I only see one.

Hope he/she finds a mate this spring.

Ring Necked Duck at Tierra Verde

These Ring Necked Ducks were at the Tierra Verde

pond close to St Pete Beach in Florida. Taken in February 2009.
This trip was my first experience with ducks,
beyond Mallards and the common white ducks
at the local duck pond.

I was so excited to see so many different ducks
at these 2 ponds at an entrance to a subdivision.
Notice the photo below and the 2nd from the top
also have American Coots in the photos.

I haven't actually counted the different ducks we saw yet,

because I am still going through the photos

to see what all I did capture.

As always if I have the id wrong, please correct me.

Pie Billed Grebe

Jimmy first spotted these Pie Billed Grebe.He said there was something out there that keeps sinking

and then coming up on the other side of the pond.

After you see one of these,
that is what draws your attention to them.

The first 3 were taken at Tierra Verde pond in February 2009.

Then I came home and was at the "duck pond" as the Fountain City pond is referred to locally and that tell/tell sign of sinking caught my eye. I had to go and investigate it. Sure enough there it was right here in Tennessee too.

Mergansers - Common and Red Breasted

Mergansers - Common or Red Breasted. The first 3 photos were taken at the pond on Tierra Verde,

close to St Pete Beach in Florida.
I originally had all these photos grouped together.

But on closer inspection, I think I have the Red Breasted
in the top 3 photos, and the Common in the bottom 3 photos.

The bottom 3 photos were taken at Fort DeSoto Park,
also near St Pete Beach in Florida.

They were taken 3 days apart. Tierra Verde is the small

strip of land you travel to the Fort DeSoto Park.

I know the quality could be better, but I would still appreciate
any clarification of the correct identifications of these Mergansers.

American Coots at Tierra Verde

American Coots are similiar in appearance to the Common Moorhen, except the Moorhen has a red bill and the American Coots are white.

Think they must have had a lover's quarrel.

Greater Scaup at Tierra Verde

One of the days we were at the pond at Tierra Verde a local birder was very excited because she saw a Ruddy Duck. She told me it had white on it's face. So when I got these photos in the computer I thought I had captured the Ruddy Duck.

When I consulted my reference book none of the ducks I have photos of looked like the Ruddy Duck to me. I first thought I had all Lesser Scaup.

Then the 3rd photo made me think Greater Scaup.

As always please enlarge to help with the identification.

This post and the last may all be the same, if so probably Lesser Scaup.

Please see the previous post for the ones I thought were the Lesser Scaup.

I would appreciate any and all help with identifications, because usually the only ducks I see are Mallards and Common Moorhens.

Lesser Scaup at Tierra Verde

These are some more ducks at the pond on Tierra Verde.

I think these are Lesser Scaup, except the far left front one in the first photo.

The ducks in these 2 ponds just mingle all together.

The second photo is all female and male Lesser Scaup.

I am also posting a 2nd post with the Greater Scaup.

I would appreciate any help with identiciations if I am wrong.

Please click to enlarge.

Redhead Pochards at Tierra Verde

I had fun at the Tierra Verde pond. I would take photos and go back to the condo and download to see what I captured.

The Redhead Pochards and the Common Pochards are similiar,

but the Redhead is the one in Florida of the two.

If I am wrong please feel free to correct me. Ducks are new and I have several different ones to post, so please help me if I am wrong on any of them.

Not sure what is going on with the back one of the 3 grouped together.

Thousands of ducks, all kinds

I am going to take a rest from the cruise and post some photos from Florida.The weather was not the greatest for the beach while we were in Flordia.
So we did a lot more walking. Visited a lot of parks we had not been to before. Of the parks Lake Seminole Park is still my favorite for birding.

At the entrance to one of the fancy neighborhoods on Tierre Verde (close to St Pete Beach) we saw lots of ducks in the 2 ponds as we passed going to Fort DeSoto Park.

We ended out going there 3 different times, and all but the first time there were birders there. One day one of them was so excited that there was a Ruddy Duck in the crowd. Can you find him? (Ha!) I think I have a couple of close ups of him that I will be posting later.

The appearance of these ducks seemed to be well known by the local birders.

They may be there every winter. You can rest assured I will check it out every year from now on. The only problem with the location is all that tall grass growing all around the ponds. Have to search for a spot to photograph the ducks through.

Muscovy Duck at Lake Seminole Park

This Muscovy Duck at Lake Seminole Park in Seminole Park wanted me to feed him, but all I had in my hand was a camera.

So he decided he would ignore me.

Really ignore me.

I think the Muscovy Duck is such an usual looking duck.

I had an earlier post of the Muscovy Duck taken in East Tennessee.

We did arrive home on Saturday evening. I meet with my tax lady on Wednesday so I have a lot to do between now and then. I promise I will be visiting as time permits, and plan on catching up on what all of you have been doing while I have been gone.