Wildlife talkin'

The other day I went for a walk through the nice townhome subdivision just north of my villa. There is a small man-made lake at the back surrounded on three sides by woods.  As I was strolling along the townhome-side of the lake, three Muscovy ducks saw me and came running (if someone can run in water), looking for food. I held up my open hands, moved them back and forth, and said "sorry, no food." The disappointed ducks then came up on land, and I noticed as they walked away that it was papa, mama, and a juvenile. A little further along, I saw a crowd of ducks and, as they came closer, I saw it was a mama with 12 juvenile ducks. That's amazing -- that a mother Muscovy duck could rear 12 ducklings to juvenile status! Never seen that before. From what I've noticed, Muscovy females are not the best mothers, so this was extraordinary. It could be, too, that this mama duck was rearing the ducklings that belong to her and to a mother duck who was killed. I have seen two females and their ducklings band together as a family. Anyway you look at it, that mama Muscovy is an awesome mother.

I am feeding a baby opossum with leftover cat food. I read that the babies are weaned around 75 days old, and then, you're on your own, kid. I  promised myself I wouldn't feed the wildlife at this new place, but I'm breaking that promise. It's just a baby, for pete's sake.

 

Early Tuesday evening, as I was bringing in the emptied garbage and recycling bins, I happened to look up at the sky and there was a solitary swallow-tailed kite (or hawk) lazily flying around, looking for dinner, no doubt. Above me, in the neighbor's short willowy tree, I heard a cardinal calling, and then I saw him, hiding high up, his bright red feathers peeking through the leaves. I watched as the kite seemed to follow me as I dragged the bins up my walkway. Perhaps it heard the cardinal. Perhaps it wondered what I was doing. Perhaps it was just floating with the breeze. It was all special because the cardinal and the kite are two of my favorite birds. And here they were -- together (in a sense), a little show just for me. 

All images "stolen" from the Internet