Good morning, Deborah! I truly enjoyed this piece on this warm but cloudy Florida morning. I wake with the birds each morning. If my cats don’t wake me, the birds do!

We live on a small wooded lake in a townhome community. Cardinals are the first songbirds I hear in the morning. We have a nesting pair in the back of our home. I can hear them from our bedroom, just as the first rays of sunlight appear.

I dress quickly and take my dog for a walk. Then, I hear hawks — we have many red-shouldered hawks and a few Coopers in this area. And, maybe some sparrows or wrens.

Next, I hear the Black-Bellied Whistling Ducks, who are a raucous and loud bunch:

Not my video but a good example of the sound they make. As in this video, they fly in flocks over our lake several times before deciding where to land. The same family of nine tend to land on the shore behind our home. Sometimes, another family comes but then the two groups fight. Talk about loud! They can be deafening when they are squabbling. No worries, though, none seem to get injured in the rumble.

We also have Muscovy ducks on the lake but they are very quiet — no screeching, whistling, quacking or honking. They only hiss and huff.

Again, not my video but a perfect example of their sounds and our Muscovies look very much like these. But, rarely do ours make this much noise. I feed all the ducks corn and when the male Muscovies approach, they hiss and huff to greet me. The females are mostly silently unless they have ducklings, then they make an odd croaking sound to their babes. Not really a quack. Softer and deeper. More of a throaty sound.

We also have on lone Mallard, but I haven’t heard him make any sound at all!

I look forward to more submissions from you, especially about birds ♥