Santa Ana Day

4 young killdeer

Today, there is a Santa Ana going on and it was hot and dry.  So, many of the animals were in the shade or resting.  However, the killdeer were out.  Here is a couple of youngsters, probably George's daughters:

A young male, possibly George's son:

Here's George:

 In the ballfields, I saw several other killdeer that I couldn't take photos of.  One of them looked so small.  I think it's Miracle.  Her parents and brother were also there.

Below, are photos of Pollux's girlfriend and Pollux himself in the second picture:

I thought this was a nice photo of Cinnamon:

For some reason, Fingerbiter, the big duck, is attacking Pepper.  I don't see where Pepper is provoking him and I think it's just a bullying thing.  Fingerbiter was very nice to Bossy and I can't understand why he doesn't like Pepper.  I think it might be because Pepper is popular with several females.  Here's Fingerbiter (in the back) with Pepper in the front:

This next photo is of Doodle's bully, all by himself, under the falcon tree:

This is an un-named jumbo Pekin dropped off last spring:

Below is a photo of Baby Bob, rock chopping with George's daughter in the background:

Here's a surprise for me today:  A long-billed curlew at the lake.  First time I've seen on there.  I couldn't get a good photo as he definitely didn't want to interact with me:

Correction!:  I think the bird above might actually be a juvenile white-faced ibis!  That explains why it looked so heron-like when I first saw him.  My first ibis!  

Lots of dead things around the lake lately, attracting vultures.  Most of the dead things are dead catfish or dead coots.  But, I did find a piece of rabbit skin on the main beach.  I think vultures are cool.  I love the way they fly.  And, they clean up the lakeshore.

Still not seen:  Bossy (and I'm beginning to get worried as his girlfriend has been without him since before he was last seen) and Doodle.  However, I did find one duck that looked a lot like Bossy, but didn't have Bossy's mark on his nos (thought you can see a faint mark on it).  It is possible that Bossy lost his mark during his molt like many males do, though that would be a bit fast since I saw him with it a week or so ago.  Here is the duck that looks a lot like him, but without his mark on the bill: