Mama Redwing Blackbird feeding babies

Today was a beautiful day to watch birds. We went to Lake Hollingsworth in Lakeland, FL and spent a couple of hours checking out baby birds. It’s spring and they seemed to be every where. We saw baby Common Moorhens, Mallards, Wood Ducks, Limpkin, and my favorite some Redwing Blackbirds.

I was watching a female redwing fly up in the tree that had spanish moss hanging down, when she “disappeared” from view. I knew she hadn’t flown off, so I kept watching and found her in a nest. The nest was hidden from view even though it hung over the pathway around the lake.

When we first got there, I was feeding the local gang, when the resident geese spotted me. I watched them run about a block and them swarm me. They were right in my face. Then again, I’m not very tall (under 5 feet). I wasn’t handing out goodies fast enough so they were pulling on my slacks to get my attention. Even so, the Lord gave us a great day to enjoy his critters.

We had just gone to enjoy the day and take a few pictures, but never expected so many young birds. Here is a list of the birds seen today in the order we saw them:

Ring-billed Gulls, Geese, Boat-tailed Grackles, Mallards, Eurasean Collard Dove, Redwing Blackbirds, Common Moorhens, Purple Gallinules, Anhingas, Ibises, Ospreys, Blue Jays, Pied-billed Grebes, Tern, Cormorants, Coots, and Wood Ducks. Not bad for only walking about a third mile and back.

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