Ruby Tuesday- Florida's Beauties

While in Florida these Rubies were captured.

I love these Moss roses.
They are very drought resistant
The different colors are pleasing to the eye.
Click on Photo for a Much closer view

Hibiscus.. what a ruby indeed!
I have a tree however it is purple.
Now is purple in the Ruby family?
Well this one is a true Red Ruby.

To see more Rubies visit Work of the Poet

Blue Monday-Penguins

Smiling Sally host Blue Monday.
Travel over to Smiling Sally....
to view or/ and link up your Blue beauty.

Here were are the Last day for the Water fowl series. Today I chose Penguins.

While at the Sea World in Orlando, we visited the Penguins exhibit. I had a great time there. Besides it being nice and cool, temp wise, It was a new experience for me.

Penguins at Orlando SeaWorld May 2010

Feeding time.. As we arrived they were being fed.

It was mating season...
Here is a Female Emperor Penguin, she is gray in color.
The males where fighting over her.
In this photo a male was pushing her in the behind. She was not liking it!

she pushed him off.
Now the one standing on the rock seemed like a head penguin.
He was yelling out the others and talking to the female.
Hubby and I thought of him as her Father.

We really enjoyed watching this process. There were a few Females around and every one was going down the same way. Eventually the female went into the cave holes with a male.

Now here is a short video of the water action of some Penguins.
I took this while at Orlando SeaWorld.

It's Friday- One more Beauty.

While at Sea World in Orlando Florida we saw many Water Fowl Species. I always love taking the photos and then finding out what they are. This week has been a learning time for me. I have loved sharing my finding with you all. The next specimen has been a challenge for me. Looking at all kinds of water fowl and reading to identify which one this was. My first thought was a swan, but then I wasn't sure. Its' face just didn't look right. Then the Pekin duck came to mind. All the info I found on that one was very interesting. So I included some in this post. finally the answer was found, It is a......

Coscoroba Swan.

I first thought is it was a Pekin duck. A Domestic duck that is bred from the mallards in China. Then in the late 1800's it was brought to the United States. Here it became a popular commercial duck. The Pekin duck was used by Disney for the fashioning of Donald Duck. Today the company Aflac used the Pekin duck as their mascot.

There are so many types of Swans, searching for the right one was very informative. However this photo is of a Coscoroba Swan belonging to the family of Anatidae and the monotypic genus Cocoraba. It is the smallest of the swan species. The males and females look alike. These Swans look more like Geese due to their size, heads and wing span. As you can see this breed is lacking the Black mask that the Swans we are use to have.
They like to feed on Grasses along the water banks, algae and underwater plant life, as well as mussels and fish. There is approximately 100,000 of these Coscoroba Swan in the world. South America is the habitat of choice. In the winter they fly north to Central Chile, Uruguay and the south east tip of Brazil.
The Photo above was taken in Florida at SeaWorld, in May 2010.

Oh..it's babies....

Who doesn't love to see the Ducklings!

So while water fowl watching in Florida, we came across some Mallard ducklings. Yesterday for Wordless Wednesday on my At Home site, a photo of a mallard in mating season that my daughter took at the local fish Pound was posted.Today on At home with Auntie E, I posted some Facts on the Colorful Mallard duck. Deciding on what to feature today a thought of this family came to mind.

These are two male mallards.
It is not uncommon for the males to stick together after their mating. Once the eggs are laid and duckling are hatched the Males leave the females. So the female can do her job, raising the ducklings.
As you can see the Bright head color is fading. This is common after Breeding. The Males also loose their feathers and ability to fly for about 6 weeks. I guess this is Mother natures way of keeping them in one place.

Now for the little ones ...
Aren't they cute?
Now what you do not see is Mother is calling them down to the water...

they are headed for the water..all in a row...
(click to enlarge the photo for a close up view)

Wordful Wednesday-Canadian Geese

You can view more Wordful Wednesday at Seven Clown Circus.

These next photos were taken by my Daughter. There is a area pond that she like to go fishing at. Oh but wait, you will see there are more things than fish in the waters......

Canadian Geese

Canadian Geese live in the area near Water, grassy fields and grain fields. Their love for Manicured lawns has increased over the years for a couple reasons. The young can feed on the grass as the parent keeps an unobstructed eye on them and the surroundings. This is why in the northern states area we will see them gathering near Parks, golf courses and Airports. This action makes them sometimes called the Nuisance Geese, in some suburban areas. It also causes a hazard to the airports planes. As you will recall a flock a Canadian Geese flew into US Airways flight 1549 on January 15, 2009. Causing a complete engine failure. The plane set down in the Hudson River.

Now for you bird watchers;

Kingdom-Amimala
Phylum- Chordata
Class- Aves
Order- Anseriformes
Family- Anatidae
Species- Branta

There are 11 subspecies known. Here are seven of them.

• Atlantic Canada Goose, Branta canadensis canadensis
• Interior Canada Goose, Branta canadensis interior
• Giant Canada Goose, Branta canadensis maxima
• Moffitt's Canada Goose, Branta canadensis moffitti
• Vancouver Canada Goose, Branta canadensis fulva
• Dusky Canada Goose, Branta canadensis occidentalis
• part of "Lesser complex", Branta canadensis parvipes

The size will get small as you move northward as well as darker if you move southward.
Four of the smaller version have a new species name "The Crackling goose"

For a few years now some are not moving so much south but are staying north. It is believed that the reason is due to the Farming changing. Farms being sold and housing developments going up. This make the waste grains not as available. Therefore they stay closer to the water and marsh areas. Another cause is weather changes.
These birds can live up to about 30 years if they can stay out of the rifles aim. Most Hunting has decreased due to their migrate patterns as well as the Laws of Hunting and areas being limited. With less and less open field and woodlands, new natural protected preserves and new Gun laws it has given a protection blanket for the Canadian Geese. That is why we see more and more flocks flying through our Northern American skies.

a closer view.

Ruby Tuesday- The White Ibis

Mary over at Work of the Poet host Ruby Tuesday. Follow the link in red and look at other Rubies from around the world.

For my Ruby , I chose this one.
Taken in Florida while we were at Sea World.
He was walking around the food area. I had never seen one of these birds. Must have been used to the people for he did not run away.

Known as a White Ibis (Eudocimus Ablus),
For you bird watches here are the classifications;

Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Ciconiiformes
Family: Threskiornithidae
Genus: Eudocimus

The White Ibis stands about two feet tall, the legs seen here are red because it was Breeding season. Normally they would be Gray in color. He is all white with the exception of the black tips on his wings, seen when they are opened.

They are mostly found in areas of the Atlantic Coast, from Southern Virginia to Florida. Some are found in the Gulf coast near Texas. They do Migrate keeping to the southern tropical areas from Mexico to Central America.
These birds can fly up to fifteen miles per day searching for food. Eating crabs, crayfish, insects, frogs, snail, Marine worms, snakes and various fish. I would say they are not picky eaters.

Blue Monday- The Blue Bill.

Smiling Sally host Blue Monday.
Travel over to Smiling Sally....
to view or/ and link up your Blue beauty.

While In Florida we saw these Blue billed beauties.
They are Called Ruddy Duck(Oxyura Jamaicensis). The males are the ones with the blue bills. This Ruddy duck loves marshy areas thoughtout our North America region. Each year a pair forms for mating. They love to drive and swim under water. Mostly feeding on seeds and roots of water plants

Notice their tails are long and stiff unlike other ducks.
(click on photo to enlarge)

In the Water, cooling off from the heat of the day

thinking of driving......

there he goes!!

Animals in the Yard!

The Animals in the yard are coming out.....
Lets see there is:

The Rabbit....
He loves to hop around early morning and evening.

A closer view...

The Squirrels..
they love to play throughout the day and......
sometimes come into the gazebo!

The Frog...So Tiny yet loves the water and Gazebo.

His real size!

The Groundhog...Oh yes they are back...

And Finally Critter in the Pool....
Isn't he cute? He's a keeper for sure.