Winter Visitors

Every year for the past 6 or 7 years, we get some beautiful visitors, who stay until Spring.  Attached are pictures of the ducks who love our pond, and love to visit us every year.  And, they evidently communicate with each other, because every year, more come to visit.  We counted about 75 that came this year.  The first year we had a few, and we didn't know what they were, so we went to a Wild Birds Unlimited store and showed them pictures, and they knew what they were, and said they were not common in this area.  They are called Black-Bellied Whistling Ducks, and they make a high pitched whistle.  They are really pretty and we enjoy them.  They have hatched babies here, and some will stay until the babies are ready to go, but most leave in March or April.  We have 4 geese and 2 ducks who live here, and of course we throw corn out for them every day, so these visitor ducks come because they like our food, I believe.  We have a good habitat for them with the trees and large pond, and we put in a duck house for them to nest in.  I love the birds here where we live.  We have quite an assortment and enjoy cardinals, woodpeckers, bluebirds, bluejays, wrens, chickadees, nuthatch, robins, doves, and a wide variety of sparrows.