Pages

Monday, February 14, 2011

Ducks on Valentine's Day, Egyptian Geese Actually

As I was busy working this morning I heard the dogs suddenly barking like crazy so I rushed outside to see and hear these two ducks honking loudly and doing what appeared to be a Valentine's Day dance. They are new to our yard and I have not been able to identify them. I gave up on the Google image search when  my search returned images of camouflaged men and dead birds changed my uplifted Valentine's Day mood to one of 'the cupid really did shoot my heart with an arrow'!

Anyway, does anyone know what type of birds these are? If they are rare or tasty please no one rush over and shoot them, just take their photo and let them continue honking and dancing.
Update: While discussing the new bird siting at lunch with my husband I suddenly realized that I had said they were honking yet I was searching for ducks because they looked like ducks. I came in and did a search for geese and discovered these are probably Egyptian Geese, native to Africa but have been sighted in South Florida because of collectors. One site said that most are escapees, few actually breed here.

And thank you to Sue for her suggestion about contacting the Audubon Society. I sent them an email before I discovered other Egyptian Geese photos online and the president of the local Audubon Society has just sent me a reply saying that they are Egyptian Geese, that they are becoming more common in Broward County.

7 comments:

  1. what curious looking ducks these are! if you can't identify them try sending the photo to your local audobon society. They were very helpful in helping me to identify the white cowbird I had in my yard recently.

    ReplyDelete
  2. You take gorgeous photos. I love those unusual geese. They are obviously thriving in the wilds of Florida.

    ReplyDelete
  3. What fun. I love having nature around me.

    ReplyDelete
  4. They are just beautifil and it horrifies me to think that anyone would shoot them. Lucky you to have seen them up close:)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Wow! I've never seen these before! They are majestic- thanks for sharing! :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. They are everywhere in the Uk and really a bit of a pest.

    ReplyDelete

I enjoy hearing from you! If you've made your email address available I'll send an email reply. Thanks for visiting!