Bird Sounds Like A Monkey???

My brother thinks this might be a Laughing Kookaburra. I am inclined to agree.

You can hear the sound of this bird here:

Laughing Kookaburra

This bird is part of the Kingfisher family and is native to Australia. How did it get in my back yard area?? It could have escaped from a zoo or maybe a trainer? If it did, it was recently, as this sound was just heard in the last 3 weeks or so.

I still have not been able to see the bird. It seems to be very high in the tallest of palms. Its only been heard early in the morning or late in the afternoon around 4:00-5:00pm.

I feel sorry for it. It's alone with no mate, and they mate for life. :(

Apparently, they are not afraid of humans. I am going to try to lure it here this weekend. 

Mallards!

The Muscovy Ducks are not alone.

There are also Mallards here on the canal. They are really cute, and we love their quack! They don't interact with humans. (at least these Mallards don't).

Here they are enjoying the morning.

Wolf Moon 2010

In January, the biggest and brighest moon of the year, is known as the Wolf Moon. The photos of ducks under the glow of the Wolf Moon are blurry, but the lighting is captured. They glow!

Enjoy the Wolf Moon of 2010!

Bird Song That Sounds Like A Monkey~

For the last 3 weeks, we have been hearing this and I cannot find out what this is! Its not a barred owl. It is very high up in the trees and I cannot see it...

I am hopeful my brother is going to know what this is, but man we are all mystified. The bird mysteries are surely mounting here!

Stand by!

From An Expert

I'm having connection issues @ work so I can't see all the photos you have posted but the one I have seen, of the duck with the black cap, is the one I assume you are referring to?


Yes, white is what they call a incompletely dominant color. A homozygous white will be completely white (yellow down) from hatch w/ no traces of black. A heterozygous white will have yellow down & the black cap which typically molts out at the 12/14 week molt. A pied bird, what I call a color + white, is technically, genetically speaking, a white with haphazard color. I try to speak in layman's terms so I use the term pied for anything that has some color and some white. I am not a genetics expert by any means.

As far as the bill, yes they can change some, how drastically I do not know as I have never paid that much attention to it. Sometimes, birds with hormonal issues/imbalances are reported to have drastic bill changes in the Mallard Derivative breeds. Whether that applies to Muscovy I do not know. It typically is an elderly female issue with the MDs, however.

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So Folks - I guess this "could" be Spentie. I have to find out more. It's a start. I will keep you posted to more findings!

"Spentie" and Angel were seen across the Canal yesterday.

I was busy so could not take a photo.

They are the same size. It just seems tooooo coincidental.

Is This Spentie????

A duck showed up today that I swear is Spentie. I have not seen Spentie in two months. When Spentie and Angel were 2-3 months old, they both started getting black spots on their foreheads. Angel's is gone. He is getting a black spot on his right lower back.

Here are photos of Spentie from October and December, 2009.

Seen in 12/09

This one is 10/24/09

This is October 31st.

Ok - here is the new dude that showed up out of the blue this morning:

Is this Spentie??

He even has yellow on his feet! Spentie's feet were almost completely yellow, but with more black than Angel had. My ducks, decendents of Mama Elsa, are the only ducks I have seen here with any yellow on their feet. Can the tip of the beak darken??

Look how much white he has on his breast area....

Angel and the others got their "feathers ruffled" when this dude showed up, but they did that the other night when Timmy came on the scene. I just don't know what to think..

I will post some more tomorrow and be on the lookout for this drake. I'll do some reading to see if this much plumage change and beak darkening is possible.

Gosh I sure hope this is Spentie.....

What a great Valentine's Day present!

Angel~

Although my heart willl never recover not seeing Spentie and the others, and the loss of Timmy, I do have the Bravehearts and Angel.

Stopping By For A Bite~

The ducks are totally wild, and at 6 months old, they could start breeding! I still have not seen Spentie or the others, and it makes me so very sad. Tommy came by last nite and he is soooo big. Angel and the Bravehearts are here almost daily, as well as the other wild ducks. Once in a while I give them a bite to eat.

Wild Birds~

Across the street from us, there is a lake. Its a much more sedate and safe place than this canal! The 5 ducks that stuck around, have been known to cross the street and hang out with the lake ducks. Once in a while I meandor over and check on them. Here are some photos of them out playing!

Actually, this is them following me home after I check

on them...guess why???