Goodbye Regis

So animal control ended up in our backyard.  

One of our neighbors who doesn't live on the pond called because she was afraid for her dog. -__-  

I have mixed emotions about the whole thing.  

We enjoyed watching Reeg, live life in the pond. 

Unlike what some people imagine, alligators don't prowl around on land looking for people or dogs, to attack.  They're pretty afraid of us.  

Eventually though I probably would have felt he was too big.  My neighbor just felt that way much, much sooner than I did.  

So adios Reeg!

The trapper used a special fishing pole with extra large hooks to snag the gator. She said she hooked Regis' lower leg.  

I missed the actual capture while I was picking Evan up at school.  So I don't know what happened after she reeled him in.  I wish I had seen it though! 

I asked if we could get a look at him in her truck before she took of with him. She had a second, smaller gator she had captured in another neighborhood.   

She pulled him out and gave the boys a closer look.  

Pretty cool. 

Wildlife in the Backyard

Kane spotted something! 

Oh yes, that's Regis off in the distance sunning himself/hunting birds.  

Very inconspicuous, don't ya think?! 

Come here little birdy, you look tasty! 

While we were focused on the gator, this guy snuck up on us. 

  

 Fortunately he's only interested in bird seed. 

4 Brothers and a Tree Frog

Big brother caught a tree frog.

 After much begging he gave little brother a turn holding it.

 SURPRISE!

 Tree frogs jump!  

That was scary and fun! 

Tree frogs also crawl.

After much begging the little brother gives the littler brother a turn. 

 Littler brother is nervous and excited.

Littler brother warms up to tree frog.  

 Littler brother offers littlest brother a turn.  

You're crazy if you think I'm touching that thing!  

First Backyard Gator

Well, hibernation is over and its officially mating season so Florida alligators are on the move and one decided to move into our pond!  

Thankfully this one is quite small at around 3 feet but its still makes me nervous!  We've instructed the boys that they are not allowed near the pond.  I got the impression they weren't taking our warning seriously when Evan informed me that it wasn't even big enough to eat a kid his size and Kane told us that he wanted to name it and keep it as a pet so he could give it snuggles.  

 I am a big fan of being honest with my children even on controversial subjects like death, sex, and you know being eaten by large reptiles, although I try not to over share/over react on things either. However this time I let them have it.

 I explained that the gator probably couldn't swallow them hole like other prey, it could bite them, drag them in the water, hold them under until they drown/died and then it would snack on their bodies for a few days.  

Evan and Kane stared at me in horror and amazement during my little speech, following up with a thousand questions, while Seth just smirked and rolled his eyes.  Seth was born a skeptic so I'll be pulling out the big guns, showing him Youtube videos of gators hunting and feeding, hopefully driving my point home.  

Always trying to walk that fine line of over reacting and teaching them respect for the world around them. :)  

And we're still working/budgeting for a fence (the ones our HOA allows can cost upwards of $4,000!!!!) as its one of our top priorities.  

Independence

Another update on our ducks as told in a conversation by Jed and myself.  

Me: "Jed, momma duck #1 abandoned her ducklings earlier this week.  They've joined momma duck #2 and her 3 babies."  

Jed: "She probably saw her opportunity and is getting her party on over at the adults only pond. The other duck shouldn't have been such a push over."  

Me: (rolls eyes) "No seriously, you know that my favorite duckling was one of  #1's and now she's had to join #2's group and they all pick on her.  It's so sad."  

Jed: "It'll toughen her up."

Me: (rolls eyes again and walks away)

Momma duck #2 has since abandoned the ducklings as well.  I guess that's just how it is because the babies don't seem to mind and are doing quite well for themselves.  Not to mention that, in an unfortunate turn of events I happen to witness daddy duck, having his way with mommy duck.  Disturbing.  Jed had another good laugh, at my expense, and some "fun" quotes that I wont share here after I told him about it.  

I will say that ducks have it made in the parenting department, they pop out some eggs, their babies are born with the ability to feed themselves, and with in 2 months or so, they're quite literally empty nesters.  I might be a little jealous.  

Reuniting with momma for a meal. 

The original ducklings are in front here, with my favorite one on the left.  

Ducky Update

We've had some weird weather here, its been in the 80s which is even warm for us and, despite this being the dry season we've had quite a bit of rain.  

Ok, so now that I've updated you on our weather, let me get to the point, a little over a week ago a storm rolled in (its cool to watch storms come across our pond!) and for whatever reason this prompted momma duck and babies to leave the pond for the first time since their arrival. I watched from our dining room as four ducks disappeared down into the canal.  

The next day Jed sent Evan out to feed the ducks.  A few minutes later Evan came inside and sat down next to me.  He said, "Mom, I have something to tell you.  There are only 2 ducklings today."  He was looking at me like he was waiting for me to burst into tears and wasn't sure how to comfort me.  When did my little Evan turn into a big seven year old man?!  

After assuring him I wasn't going to break down we went out to check to see if somehow the third duckling had gotten lost or stuck somewhere. Sad day but such is life.

 Since then our little ducklings have doubled in size and they're much more trusting of us, especially Seth who they allow to hand feed them!  They're still quite skiddish when the food runs out though.

 That's our disheveled porch in the background.

I think it's hilarious when a duckling steals a piece of bread intended for its mom and then can't swallow it.  Greedy little one! :)

So we've been quite content with our little family of three however you can imagine our delight when three more ducklings, and their mommy, appeared on our pond yesterday.  The boys were so beyond excited that before I knew it they had slipped almost an entire loaf of bread out to the newcomers (thank goodness it was the $1 loaf from Aldi, a few days ago I found them feeding the ducks the $3 artisan bread we had splurged on, yikes)!

  The new ducks actually look older than our ducks (less down and a tad bit bigger) so they must have been living on one of the other ponds in our neighborhood or made their way from the big lake on the other side of the forest.

So in an unexpected turn of events we're back up to 5 ducklings!  Woohoo!

Feeding

Today we were happy to see that all three ducklings survived the night! 

 Today they were happy to see that we brought them food. 

Yum! 

Evan and Seth spent a good portion of the morning standing by the pond on hawk watching duty.  

 Seth declared that we were never allowed to leave the house again so he could stay with them. 

Eat up little one and grow, grow, grow, so we can stop worrying about you!

 Hope to see you all tomorrow! 

Sitting Duckling

The good news, the boys discovered that one of our female ducks had five babies and chose to debut them on the pond today!   

The bad news, within 2 hours of the debut, momma went from 5 ducklings to 3. :(

We ate dinner on the back porch tonight and had a front row seat to a hawk snatching one of the babies and then enjoying its meal in a tree nearby.  So sad.  

Soon after the attack I noticed a bald eagle and several vultures circling the pond.  I'm beginning to wonder if any of the little babes are going to make it to adulthood. 

Evan took today's events in stride but Seth was bummed, thankfully he was easily distracted.  Kane and Ford were blissfully unaware.  

Our Ducks

The pond out back is home to quite a few birds.  The other day I lured the ducks over to our porch with a piece of bread, which may or may not have been illegal... but whatever.  They're a breed I had never seen before called, the Muscovy Duck.  Apparently they're considered pests here in Florida but so far we're enjoying them!   I really hope we have ducklings at some point but I haven't noticed any of the females nesting. Maybe in the spring?!

 

This is my favorite hen.   

 The one on the right in this picture is the male of the group.  

 He's kind of grumpy.