A Call Duck and new Muscovy babies!

It's always exciting when a new species visits the backyard and today it was a call duck that came a-calling.  I couldn't initially identify it but I was pretty sure it was some sort of mallard.  It had a dark brown head and eye and a lighter tan-gray body with one curled up tail feather which indicates that it is a male.  He's a little smaller than the mottled ducks which makes him the smallest adult duck in the backyard.  He got into the mix with the bigger ducks and frantically ate seeds, going from one pile to another and got a good portion despite the fact that he was constantly pecked by the Muscovies and sometimes the mottleds.  He pecked the mottleds back.  One of Red Eye's harem girls chased him all over the backyard.  He was actually quite friendly, and came within a foot of me without fear, which I found surprising. 

With some help from the Project Noah website (ProjectNoah.org) I found out that he was indeed a breed of mallard that is a mixture of a call duck and a Swedish duck.   His small size and rounded body is characteristic of call ducks while his coloration is like a Swedish duck's.  Call ducks were bred to be small and used as decoy ducks for duck hunters.  They are friendly and make good pets.  I think I will call him Colson and I hope to see more of him.

Meet Colson, a friendly Swedish - call duck combo

The other big news is that I saw Muscovy female Chirpie who has been missing from the backyard for a little over a week.  When I went outside to get the mail around 5 PM, she was across the street on a neighbor's lawn with 5 very small light-headed babies.  She didn't bring them all the way into the backyard yet but had them eating seeds and bugs in the tall grass by the neighbor's house.  I suspect it won't be long before she comes to our house.

Mom is watching over her little brood who almost get lost in the tall grass

The Muscovy juveniles with their mom came into the backyard in the morning with about 7 other adults.  They ate in peace by their pool.  One of the babies loves to jump in the water right away and leans out of the pool to get seeds.  The others do it the other way around, leaning in to get a drink.  It's going to get a little hectic if the juveniles and little babies arrive in the backyard at the same time.

Young male Muscovy Big Boy, from Pretty Gir's April clutch of babies, is sowing his wild oats all over with someone new every day.  It's been 3 different girls in 3 days that I saw.  Today he mated with Cutie2 with his main girlfriend Cutie Tips looking on.  I don't think she was too happy about it.  Afterwards he moved toward Blanco who rushed away.  I believe Big Boy is on his way to taking over backyard dominance.  He is probably feeling confident after winning that big fight with his brother a few days ago.

Speaking of Lazlo, Big Boy's brother, he again jumped his mom Pretty Girl with intentions of mating with her but some other males, not including his dad Black Foot, interrupted them.  Thank goodness!   Incest is not welcome in the backyard.

Today two great egrets visited the backyard, one stopping in my yard and one in my neighbor's.  They did not appear to be together, and arrived and left separately.  Their presence is a danger to the little Muscovy ducklings as they are some of the main predators of the babies.

This is a pretty spot but i don't see any food

This evening Ani the ahninga was halfheartedly spreading her wings to dry while standing on the dock floor.  She got upset with me when I walked down to her dock to feed the fish.  She retreated to a nearby tree after it became clear that I wasn't leaving any time soon.

Trying to dry out but upset at my company

The lengths I have to go to for some peace and quiet!

Today I saw the first pretty red-winged blackbird male of the season at the feeder.  They have been gone for a long time and are probably starting to return for the winter.

What looked to be a newly-minted four-spot pennant dragonfly tested out a twig in the canal.  He looks a lot better than the old beat-up one that I've been seeing around the backyard.

Fresh and new

At least 8 small iguanas scurried away when I went outside this afternoon.  I didn't see any big ones today which is just fine with me!

And finally, at the end of the day, the osprey reappeared on the dead tree limb to welcome the darkness.