A great egret takes a walk in the backyard

Other than the big fight to which I devoted the whole last post, the last few days in the backyard have held nothing particularly noteworthy or out of the ordinary.

A great egret did appear in the backyard and strolled around a bit.  Mostly I see them across the canal so it was good to see one up close.

Making long strides across the backyard

What turned out to be a mourning dove ate some seeds on the ground and on the dock.  For a while I wasn't sure what it was as it had feathers that were just too fluffy on its chest and head and almost no blue around its eye.

Fluffy fellow didn't look like the usual mourning dove

The Muscovy juveniles were here for the last two mornings, waiting by the bird bath.  Yesterday Mom was in no hurry to stay with them and left them there alone.  In fact one got there a long time before the rest and ate and fended off the mottled ducks alone.  Today they ate by their little pool and rested under the ficus for a long time afterwards.

The usual regulars have been in attendance,  Black Foot, Lazlo, Blanco, and females Smiley, Cutie2 and Cutie Tips.  Pretty Girl is an occasional evening visitor.

The new Muscovy family was back, the male and his 3 girls.  The youngest one, who is almost all black, is timid with the other ducks but follows me around until she gets a little private pile of seeds that nobody else can see.  She's kind of cute but I can't name her yet, nor the rest of the girls, as I don't know if they are going to be regulars.  In any case she will not be Cutie3 as there are enough Cuties.  I have already named the male Red Eye because of his distinctive look.

There were a number of iguanas of all sizes, but mostly medium to small,  in the backyard today.  When I go outside, they tend to scatter and to run up the trees to escape.

I'm headed up the nearest tree if you come any closer

Ani the anhinga was on the dock resting and sometimes drying off her wings after her busy afternoon of fishing.  She is here almost daily.

Ani is taking a much-needed rest

 At the end of the day as it was getting dark, we saw the return of the osprey on the dead tree limb across the canal.  It's been a few months since he's been around so it was nice to see him again.  It was too dark to fish so I guess he was just enjoying the evening.

Just looking, not fishing