Huey, our juvenile great blue heron

Today, on "Duck Drama"...

This morning was VERY different.  The Florida mottled ducks all flew in, 30-40 of them, but at some point a bunch leapt out of the water to the shore.  From that point on, one duck sounded a quack alarm, two per second, and any duck that landed in the water heard the alarm and eventually jumped out quickly.

We have no idea if it's a snake or a gator or a bad snapping turtle, but Mark will be watching closely to see what unfolds.

We're bummed when the ducks don't swim happily, so we're anxious for the intruder to leave and let the ducks swim beautifully again.  Or, maybe no intruder, just DUCK DRAMA :)

ONE LONE DUCK, ALL BY HIMSELF

A storm is brewing, will it be big or small? After a morning of over 50 Mottled Ducks on the pond the prestorm conditions have left a single male to enjoy the P2 pond by himself.

If he visits Corn Mountain he will find it freshly restocked with ducks favorite, cracked corn from Tractor Supply Company.

A BEAUTIFUL FLORIDA DAY WITH MOTTLED DUCKS

This is only about half of the duck population here today, the others are swimming in the pond or eating cracked corn on the North Beach.

FLORIDA MOTTLED DUCKS BY POND ON SUMMER AFTERNOON

FLORIDA MOTTLED DUCKS EATING WITH TRI COLOR HERON

TRICOLOR HERON FISHING ALONGSIDE FLORIDA MOTTLED DUCKS

TGIF DUCK PARTY

Laid-back Friday morning for the Mottled Ducks of Melbourne

BABY RACCOON STEALING DOGS FOOD AT NIGHT

We call this raccoon "little fluffy", as he is REALLY fluffy....  fuzzy back, and very thick fuzzy tail.  Plus he has the reddish brown neck coloring of "big fluffy", who just might be his dad.  We couldn't stop watching his "hands"...   he uses them more than any other young raccoon we've had visit.  "Oh dear, I got a crumb on my face, I need to use my little fingers to wipe off the crumbs and make sure I look good".  LOL

SUPER CUTE BABY OPOSSUMS EATING BANANA :)

Try to tell me this isn't cute...

Not ours, don't worry LOL.  But had to share it.

ADORABLE MOTHER AND BABY RACCOON STEALING DOG FOOD

Nine and a half minutes of "awwwwww".  Notice how mom stands up when she's worried.... at 3:14, 4:37, 6:55, and 7:38.

Squirrel Eating Mushroom

OK, I have to admit, I would have never expected a squirrel to pluck a juicy mushroom out of the ground and have a snack, but we saw that happen today.  This is not our work...   (thanks rozeboosie for catching this on video!), but the little guy we saw was exactly like this:

 

FLORIDA WILD PEAFOWL VISIT P2

We live with these shy but curious birds, it is always a gift when they visit. It really seems amazing that these gentle giants are surviving in the wild. We're very glad and provide them with all-you-can eat Blackoil Sunflower seed.

BABY OPOSSUM EATING BREAD

I'm new to Florida wildlife this year, and as a transplant from the suburbs of southern California, I NEVER through I'd cross paths with an opossum.  They're cute in a weird sort of way, with their smiley mouths and LONG ratlike tail.  Awwwww!  This guy is really enjoying a gluten filled snack.

One of these days I hope to see a mom with babies hanging from her...

FLORIDA MOTTLED DUCKS EATING CRACKED CORN

Baby snake

Who's this?  New snake.... Not a black racer.

Interesting mushrooms

There are lots of fantastic mushrooms here in Florida....i need to identify these frilly guys

40 FLORIDA MOTTLED DUCKS PARTYING AT P2

Our P2 animal sanctuary has now become the daytime playground for over 40 Florida Mottled Ducks, which are referred to here by locals as "Brown Ducks".

Each day during the last month we've a few more duck visitors each day, growing from just two (Mr and Mrs Quackers) to today's new record high population of over 40.

We love them, it is like watching an alien universe, they have such a unique and interesting social system.

Baby Florida Water Turtles

It was SO tempting to try to keep these two little baby turtles as pets (perhaps the world's ugliest pets LOL).  They were in the middle of the 1/4 mile road leading to our home, and if I hadn't rescued them they could have been in big trouble.  We released both into the pond, and they happily swam off.  Awwwwww.

FLORIDA MOTTLED DUCKS FEEDING FRENZY

DUCKS EATING AND PLAYING AT CORN MOUNTAIN

SWEET RACCOON MOTHER

This little cutie comes almost every day at sundown, we are hoping she will bring her babies to visit once they are old enough to leave their nest (wherever it is)

GORGEOUS TROPICAL PLANTS HERE IN MELBOURNE FLORIDA

Everywhere around us beautiful tropical plants are exploding with color.

This shrub by the P2 pool just looked like a green bush until the end of May, then it began to get ready to bloom. Mary (our Garden Designer) had pretty much written this plant off for flowering, but then July afternoon showers brought us this brilliant red fireworks display. Sometimes it is good to be wrong 🐥

MEET GERALDINE THE PEAHEN

The female peafowl are very sweet and shy. This female has been the subject of several photo shoots because she has figured out, nothing bad ever happens here at P2, so she comes over to our observation window and looks in at us.

She loves posing for pictures by the window, she sat there right next to me for five minutes until I took her picture, then it was back to eating breakfast.

PEAFOWL PAIR KISSING IN THE MORNING

I was in the right place at the right time to capture this rare intimate moment between a male and female Peafowl. After watching them kiss and groom each other for a couple of minutes I thought "PICTURE"

I grabbed the camera and caught this kiss. They have wonderful and gentle personalities, it is a real gift when we can observe them being themselves, in their world.

OUR FLORIDA OPOSSUM

We occasionally see this little opossum in the feeding area. Since it is North American it is an Opossum, one of over 100 spieces of marsupial which raises its young in a pouch like the kangaroo in Australia.

FLORIDA MOTTLED DUCKS DANCING IN THE RAIN

It's pouring here at P2 today, and our 22 Florida Mottled Duck friends put on an amazing show of swimming, diving, bathing, flapping, and dancing. I can't think of anything more relaxing than watching the ducks s w i m......  :)

20 FLORIDA MOTTLED DUCKS

Just some of the daily visitors here at P2.

Dog Off Leash Trespassing - Large Gray Dog - Chasing Ducks

DOGS OFF LEASH, DUCK KILLERS!!!

Do you know these dogs? They are duck killers, repeatedly coming to the P2 pond and attacking the Florida Mottled Ducks. Please tell their owner to keep them off our property. The brown one is aggressive and has charged us many times. The two of them have been roaming P2 a lot during the last week of July, on August 1st the brown one tried to attack Mary by our driveway at 2 PM.
PLEASE MAKE THEM GO AWAY

Dog Off Leash Attacking Ducks