Oedipus 2 and a species-confused ibis

As if one incident of backyard incest wasn't enough, now we have a second case.  Now it appears that Big Boy has an Oedipus complex as his brother Lazlo exhibited a few days ago.  This evening, he too found his mother Pretty Girl insanely attractive, which she actually is.  And like his brother did, he mated with her as darkness fell to hide the deed.  Again Blanco rushed over to watch but not interfere.  This is another disturbing turn of events.  I did some research and found that Muscovy ducks are not only promiscuous, but commonly engage in incestuous behavior.  That fact doesn't make me really happy but apparently it's the way things are.  I'm hoping for the best.

As for other more normal news, well maybe not completely normal, we have a solo white ibis that often visits the backyard and I seriously believe he is confused as to what species he actually is.  We have had gender-confused ducks but this is a bit odder than even that.  It seems to me that he thinks he's a duck.  Today he stayed in the backyard all afternoon waiting for seeds, and then eating them when he could get them amidst the big ducks.  He even seems depressed when the ducks ignore him or chase him off.  When I went down to the dock to feed the fish, he followed to get some bread.  I was a little slow with the bread and he made his rude noises to attract my attention.  He seems to want to do exactly what the ducks do.  For example, he got onto the bird bath no less than 4 times, drinking and grooming just like the Muscovies.  He also drank from the ducks' water bowls which is a little hard with that curved beak.  Hopefully he will figure out who he belongs with.  Flocks of ibis frequently land in the backyard but he never leaves with them,

Joining the sisterhood of the bird bath and in other duckie pursuits

The bird bath has also been a favorite spot for the few female grackles we have around at the moment.  That is probably going to change to a crowd soon as they return from their summer digs.  Grackles are big lovers of the bird bath and take the splashiest baths.  When they're around in large numbers I have to refill the birdbath with water a few times a day.

These last few days I've seen some raptors.  That's not a very common sight at this time of year.  First a Cooper's hawk landed on the ground of the golf course across the canal and then went up a tree.  I'm guessing that he was unsuccessful at whatever he tried to pounce on.  It was probably some rodent.  He cooled his heels on the tree limb for a while before flying off.

This time I missed the food, but I won't next time!

An osprey took up the same branch on the tree vacated by the hawk and stayed for quite a while as the sun was setting.  He seems to come by really late in the day now.

Osprey is bathed in the glow of the setting sun

As for the squirrels, we seem to have just one now and he doesn't stay in the backyard to eat the peanuts he finds in his feeder.  Instead he runs off with them presumably to bury them somewhere or share them with a friend.  They are supposed to remember where they buried their nuts for when they need them later in the winter.  Well we never really have winter here and I have never seen a squirrel dig up a nut, only bury them.  Luckily I switched to roasted peanuts so I won't have peanut plants sprouting all over the yard.

Lately I haven't seen any cats in the backyard for a while now which is a good thing with the little ducks around, though I think they are bigger than a cat could handle at this point.  I have seen a black and white cat roaming around the golf course on several occasions.  Today I saw one that looked like Tux the tuxedo cat.

There was a really big iguana on the dock the other day and it slowly walked away toward my neighbor's backyard with I went out.  It looked at me over its shoulder as it walked away, with what I think is a look of dislike and disdain.

You won this round but I'll be back.

The Muscovy population has stayed stable with about 15 eating regularly not counting the juveniles and their mom who are here once or twice a day.  It's interesting that of the big ducks that often peck at the kids, it's often the females like Cutie Tips that are the worst.  You wouldn't expect that.  Mom tries to protect them, though, and when they eat by their little pool they are relatively unbothered. 

Pretty Girl and Sweetie come by only in the evening, but Big Boy, Lazlo, Black Foot, Blanco and now Red Eye and his girls are around several times a day.  I wonder if Sweetie and Pretty Girl have nests to tend to.  A lot of the old crowd has not been coming any more, like Necklace Boy, Smiley, Striped Beak, Blackie2 and Little Sis.

So now we have the new family that Red Eye brought.  There are two of his girls that come regularly to the backyard and one occasional visitor.  All seem pretty young.  Two of them got into a fight over Lazlo so I guess they each wanted him for themselves.  I wonder how Red Eye felt about that.  I have not seen any of them mate yet so I think they might be too young for that.  And when Red Eye wants a little loving, he seems to go after the other girls, namely Cutie2 and Cutie Tips.  He mated with Cutie Tips this evening.  Her boyfriend Big Boy, with whom she spends a lot of time, was not around at the moment.  I wonder if he would have objected.  He certainly did when his brother Lazlo tried to get it on with her and the big fight ensued that I described in an earlier post.  Cutie Tips did not resist and seemed to accept Red Eye which you can tell because she raised her tail.  Often females don't do that.  Male Blanco, who is turning into quite a voyeur, watched the proceedings and gave running commentary.

Red Eye is a player in the backyard

To add to the fun, at least a dozen mottled ducks are around at mealtimes along with the pigeon who comes in the evenings and tries to elbow out the big ducks to get some seeds.  This only works sometimes and he has to keep moving.

Finally, I think I saw a pied-billed grebe in the canal today but it went under and I didn't see it come back up.  They often go under for a long time and you can't see where they resurface.  For the last few years they have come to our canal in the fall.