White-winged Doves at Feeder
Are you all participating in the Great Backyard Bird Count this weekend?
I did my count today, bird watching from my patio, under a blanket because it was cold down here in South Florida!
I watched for 70 minutes and saw 20 species for a total of 64 individual birds. I counted 10 muscovy ducklings but the great blue heron ate two before the day was done. Boo! He managed to fly out to the lake and land on one that got separated, floating like a swan for a few seconds which shocked me as I had never seen one do that before. But then momma muscovy flew in and started to attack him from behind, chasing him out of the water and lo and behold, the little muscovy survived to join his siblings. I had to save one of them the other day who got stuck on the wrong side of the house and was separated once again. Sigh. The ducklings give me such stress! Here is a little video of the white-winged doves at the feeder (who also get eaten occasionally by hawks) :
Girl Birder 