birds – The LeEMS Machine

Muscovy

July 16, 2025 leems No Comments

I inherited a little bird identification book from my Grandmother. Its nothing special, but I noticed that in it, and in other bird identification books I had, the illustration for Muscovy duck was all wrong. I was fired up for a new documentation project; I was going to get pictures of the crazy variation I had witnessed in the most populous duck in town. After a year or so of collecting, I have:

Muscovy are domesticated ducks, as mentioned in this article by Kevin J. McGowan. Muscovy can be black with white mottling, white with brown mottling, brown with variations. If it has a fleshy red face, then it is probably a Muscovy. The fleshy face is more pronounce on males. They have a labored walk, moving with their heavy chest tilted toward the ground (they were bred for meat). They hiss and sputter instead of quack. Once you get used to the normal Muscovy characteristics you start to notice the anomalies, that is, the hybrids.

A couple of years ago I noticed some Black Swedish ducks on the lake by our house (also a domesticated breed) and thereafter many new Muscovy in the area have more pronounced white bibs. The lake has also had a small flock of Black Bellied Whistling Ducks. Last year a little clutch of ducklings turned into slimmer bodied brownish Muscovy that chirped and whistled instead of hissed. I suspect hybridization there as well. Many ducks hybridize, but mallard ducks are especially known for hybridization (10,000 Birds blog). The pictures below are from two different duck moms at work. They look much more like the Muscovy-Mallard hybrid examples in Watching Nature’s picture gallery.

Spring time walk at Lettuce Lake Park

March 22, 2023 leems No Comments

Birdwatching

February 13, 2020 leems No Comments

Over a year ago, now, something was killing things in our back yard. Two Muscovy ducks, a turtle, and a blue jay were left to spread their putrefying gasses over the garden. In an effort to catch the killer, we got a trail camera and mounted ’round the pillar of an old, broken, bird bath. As far as we know, the killer has not returned. We have had no more back yard deaths, and we have never caught whateveritis on camera. We know there are foxes in the area, and our back yard is not secured from wandering dogs… In the meantime, I get very much enjoyment seeing what the camera does manage to photograph. Night shots are informative, but not necessarily clear photography. Here are some birds.

Birdwatching

April 18, 2019 leems No Comments

Can you see him? This redbellied woodpecker is one of two that I’ve seen around that largish hole in the branch. He was playing hide and seek with me, so this is as good a picture as I could manage. I think they may be nesting in that branch. Fingers crossed that the branch holds up for as long as they need it…it looks pretty dead.

do you hear the birds talking?

February 15, 2016 leems No Comments

birdman4 I do because I am listening to Noisli.

Long ago, I used to listen to language learning lessons while doing my daily work. Then, the daily work started demanding a little more of my cognitive abilities and I switched to listening to music. Now, I can only manage chamber music in the background because excess input, along with all the other stuff I’m staring at-reading-writing-adding, breaks my head.

My initial method for bringing a little serenity to my desk environment was to make sure my desktop backgrounds were all simple and expansive nature, like a field of flowers or the interlacing branches of a tree. I can’t remember where I read about it first, but this article: “How Nature Resets Our Minds and Bodies” explains how looking on nature alleviates stress and focuses attention. I also don’t know if the photographic projections of nature on my computer screen are any real type of stand in; time will tell.

In addition to the visuals, I have added some ambient nature noises to my day. Noisli is my number one right now, but I have also scoped out the nature sounds at ambient-mixer and the simplicity of iSerenity.

Owls

March 14, 2015 leems No Comments

owlelder One early morning, after it had been raining quite a bit, we drove by a puddle and two stocky little birds flew out of it. It happened so fast, but I was sure they were owls.

Months later, early in the morning, we were stopped by a dopy looking little Eastern Screech Owl, sitting motionless on the road and blinking blearily at the headlights. He flew away eventually.

I know there are owls in Florida; I’ve listened to them at night. But they are an unseen thing. This is not the case in my new neighborhood.

Wildlife

January 26, 2015 leems No Comments

010 Living on a lake in Florida has turned me into a bird watcher. I mean, the things are everywhere…on cars, in parking lots, crossing the road during heavy traffic. I don’t need a lake, but having a lake means I get to see birds I wouldn’t normally. Like this stork who weathered a downpour in our back yard.