#blackbelliedwhistlingducks — Public Fediverse posts

Good morning. 🪿🪿🪿

4 September 2026

It’s almost 0800 hours and I don’t have a single thought in my head. I try, but all I get is a mild, relaxed feeling settling just above my brow. The meds? Maybe. At my age I take what I jokingly call a handful a couple of times a day, though that’s only a slight exaggeration.

What’s interesting is that I haven’t even reached the next hurdle yet—75—where I’ve heard things get even more “interesting.” They say the changes of aging become more noticeable. I came across the word stooped and would prefer to avoid that if possible. I’m sure the changes aren’t uniform across the population, but my goal is to stave off whatever I can for as long as I can.

Well, look at that. I had a thought after all.

Charlie and I just got back from our morning walk, and now I’m kicked back with my feet on the desk, sipping coffee and settling in. My mind is clearer than it was before we set out. A brisk few miles gets the blood moving and the old neurons firing.

Last night I watched a werewolf movie. I hesitate to call it low‑budget, but there were only four actors and almost the entire story took place inside a small travel trailer. There were two werewolves—both women—and one of them technically transformed, though she ran off into the woods, so the special effects were basically nonexistent. I can’t believe I watched the whole thing waiting for a werewolf that never really arrived. There’s a reason I can’t recall the title. Still, the acting wasn’t terrible.

That’s plenty of mental meandering for today.

“My mind is a neighborhood I try not to go into alone.” - Anne Lamott

“All truly great thoughts are conceived while walking.” — Friedrich Nietzsche

“Life is too short for bad coffee and bad movies.” — Unknown

#photo #photography #photographer #photographylovers #wildlife #nature #bird #birds #birding #birdwatching #birdphotography #morning #thoughts #aging #ducks #blackbelliedwhistlingducks #movies #walking

Good morning. 🪿🪿🪿

27 August 2026

Today is an off day for me, one when I could be getting yard work done. But it rained sometime this morning. I’m not complaining — we needed the rain. It feels like a nap day, and honestly, I have a lot of those nowadays.

As you can tell, I’m really struggling to come up with anything to write about, so I’ve ended up writing about the struggle itself, which is very real.

It’s a strange feeling when the celebrities you’ve watched on the boob tube for decades start passing away. You catch yourself thinking, hey, he or she isn’t much older than me — sometimes even younger. It’s surreal. I don’t know about you, but I realized a long time ago that none of us are immortal. In the end, it’s all the same; it doesn’t matter what your status in life has been — one day it’ll be over. I’m not trying to be morbid. I’m just thinking about a part of life we like to hide from, even though everybody will face it sooner or later.

The big mystery is what happens next. Different people have different beliefs. There’s the whole heaven‑and‑hell scenario. There’s the belief in reincarnation — that we come back as another person, or maybe even a different species. But beliefs aren’t proof of anything; they’re just ideas passed down over centuries, or in some cases only decades.

I recently had a procedure where I was put under with anesthesia. It wasn’t my first rodeo, but this time I was out completely — nothing happening, nothing existing — until I woke up. It was as if my consciousness simply didn’t exist for a while. It’s possible that’s what happens in the end: you turn off like a light bulb.

“My sorrow, when she’s here with me, thinks these dark days of autumn rain are beautiful as days can be.” — Robert Frost

“If you would indeed behold the spirit of death, open your heart wide unto the body of life. For life and death are one, even as the river and the sea are one.” — Kahlil Gibran

#birds #ducks #blackbelliedwhistlingducks #rain #death

@Thoreau

I agree.

I first became aware of them at our local wetland park (also tertiary sewage treatment for the city of #Gainesville). Talk about Win-Win! 🙂

These photos are from 2015 on a mildly cold day when they were particularly frisky. The larger flock was lounging on the ground, but small flights of random birds would suddenly rise up, fly around for a few minutes, and return. I think they were having fun!

#Birds #BlackBelliedWhistlingDucks #SweetwaterWetlandsPark #NaturePhotography

Whistlers in the Haze

On 9 October 2025, I encountered a large flock of Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks (Dendrocygna autumnalis). The image captures just a small detachment of the flock, gliding smoothly across the lake’s surface like a quiet procession. The exposure is slightly high—I was still adjusting for the light—but the result carries its own charm. There’s a rustic, weathered quality to the scene, as if the moment had been etched into memory rather than captured by lens.

If you enjoy wildlife and nature photography, check out my photo gallery here:

https://swede1952-photographs.pixels.com

#photo #photography #photographer #photographylovers #wildlife #nature #bird #birds #birding #birdwatching #birdphotography #waterfowl #ducks #BlackBelliedWhistlingDucks

@lacochran

I just happened to see two of these ducks whistle overhead this morning. 🙂

I recently learned that they are nocturnal which explains why we don't see them more often.

#blackbelliedwhistlingducks #birds #florida

#photography #fotografia #fotografie #blackbelliedwhistlingducks #ducks #birds #birdphotography #birdsofafeather #Nature #naturephotography #doublemint #silentsunday
#LauraCochranPhotography

I've been sharing my #photography lately. These #bird #photos were taken in #Florida in December 2019 and January 2020.

1. A #RedShoulderHawk #photographed in my backyard
2. An #AmericanWhitePelican in flight
3. An #AmericanBaldEagle returning to the nest
4. A group of #BlackBelliedWhistlingDucks hang out near a local pond.

There's a link to my #PhotoBook, Scenes From #NewEngland as well as my Instagram in my bio.

Feel free to drop me a message and #boosts are appreciated.