Tag Archives: Egyptian Goose

Walking Lake Davis

I’d heard some reports of American White Pelicans visiting Lake Davis in downtown Orlando. When MK confirmed they were there, we agreed to meet last Tuesday morning for a walk and a look-see.

White Pelicans at Sunset

They’re winter visitors in Florida and I often spot them at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge over on the coast. I didn’t realize their stops at our in-shore lakes are as common as they seem to be now. In addition to Lake Davis, Wally Jones writes in his blog about a pod of them in downtown Lakeland on Lake Morton.

White Pelicans are interesting. According to this article, they can have wingspans up to nine and a half feet, making them some of the largest birds in North America. And they often feed together in small groups, herding fish in front of them. Here’s a video MK made of this behavior:

White Pelicans on Lake Davis.

The Pelicans were somewhere else during our walk, but MK has seen them since – so if you don’t catch them the first time, it might be worth another visit. Since I missed them that day, I’ll have to cheat a bit and use a photo of one that I made over in Merritt Island last December:

American White Pelican American White Pelican in flight (MINWR)

We did see many other birds that morning including some Mallards:

Drowsy Ducks Drowsy Ducks

Many Wood Ducks:

Dandy Drake Dandy Drake

A few Ring-necked Ducks:

Ring-necked Duck Ring-necked Duck

And even a family of these strange looking (to me at least) Egyptian Geese.

Egyptian Goose Family

The Egyptian Goose is native to the Middle East but humans have helped them spread around the world. They’ve been in Florida since the 1960s and as recently as 2009, Florida Fish and Wildlife didn’t think they bred outside of Pinellas and Hillsborough counties. See this article for more info : http://wildsouthflorida.com/egyptian.goose.html.

Lake Davis is a lovely surprise hiding in downtown Orlando and a wonderful place for a walk! This search will bring up other posts on the blog about the area: https://edrosack.com/?s=lake+davis.

Lake Davis Morning Lake Davis Morning

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. Take care of yourselves and each other. And if you (peli)can – make some photos!

©2021, Ed Rosack and MK Rosack. All rights reserved

Lake Cherokee and Lake Davis – September 2020

MK and I walked ’round the lakes on Friday and I thought you might like an update on the Lake Cherokee Mute Swan family. When I first posted about this year’s brood, the cygnets were young and very small.

Proud parent - from April 16, 2020Proud parent – from April 16, 2020

And here they are from last Friday:

Proud parentProud parent – September 2020

Although three of the six were lost, these three look very healthy. They still have a lot of their gray baby color, but they’re as big as Mom. And MK reports they’ve fledged and she’s seen them flying around the lake.

Here are a few more photos from our walk:

ShorelineShoreline. Birds really seem to like this spot along Lake Davis.

Got my ducks in a rowGot my Mottled Ducks in a row

Egyptian GooseEgyptian Goose

Red-bellied Woodpecker and a grub(?)Red-bellied Woodpecker and a grub(?)

These two lakes in downtown Orlando are a very nice place to walk. There’s a lot to see (and photograph) and you can get some steps too. Thanks MK for inviting me and thanks for helping me spot things! I think we were lucky to get our walk in on Friday. Looks like we’ve got a bunch of rain heading our way.

You can see more of my Lake Cherokee and Lake Davis photos in this folder on Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/edrosack/albums/72157709436468286

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. I hope all of you are staying safe – take care of yourselves, your friends, and your families. And if you can, make some photos!

©2020, Ed Rosack and MK Rosack. All rights reserved