Duckling's bill gets hung up on a fishing hook

The first thing I saw this morning was one of the older ducklings struggling with a fishing hook on a line that was snagged on a stick sticking out of the water at Lake Murray. At first, I thought that maybe a couple of ducks were fighting over a bug on the stick, but it was actually Caramel trying to free her baby. Apparently, the shiny lure attracted the duckling to nip at it, but she got caught and couldn't get away. All the other ducks in the area came to her rescue, including all the females with other ducklings. Thing is, there was a man sitting right there, saw what was happening, and did nothing!

I went into the water, waist deep and with clothes on, and got the fish hook out of the duckling's mouth. I didn't have anything to cut the barb off the hook, so I had to pull it back through the bill the way it came. It must have hurt and it was bleeding a little. Caramel talked to her baby while I was doing this. I was more concerned about getting the duckling back to her mom and getting out of the water that I didn't check on what the damage to the bill was. But, I think I saw the duckling a few hours later and the damage was unnoticeable to the naked eye. I could see a little blister on the bill in a photo I took, though. But, it looked like the bill had started to heal already. Either that or I had the wrong duckling in the photo. Here is the photo of the duckling that I think I saved:



I also saw that Butterscotch still had three ducklings of her own (down from 14, but many were stolen by other females). Here are two of them:



Pepper and his six siblings were all doing great, here's a photo of a few of them:





There was a group of kids there and they all seemed to love the little guys.

Ducky's ducklings are fine, too. Here is one of them:



And, the last parking lot duckling is looking scruffy:



I also saw four other ducklings that were about two to three weeks old, but didn't get photos of them. Also, one of the "stolen" ducklings from last April was eating out of someone's hand! Absolutely adorable.

And, look who I saw today! SIR FRANCIS DRAKE! If anyone remembers, he was the duck that had fishing line hung up around his leg for a year before someone could catch him. His leg was permanently damaged, but it's gotten better over the last year:



Killdeer:

Shy and her mate still continue to mob and follow me around and now the chicks have picked up their habits. Squiggy was doing mobbing calls along with the best of them. Castor was hanging out with Shy somewhere else, but seemed unworried about me compared to his sister.

I also found a killdeer that liked to hang around on a gabled roof!



This is a house with many birdhouses and feeders, though I think the owners temporarily took the bird feeders down because the Cooper's hawks have been hanging around too much. It appears that this killdeer (which, I think, is Mary's son and George's grandson) was purposely tormenting Big Mama Cooper, the Cooper's hawk (she's a very experienced shorebird hunter, too, so the killdeer was very gutsy). He was flying to the roof and then when the hawk came by, would fly down to the water where another killdeer was. Then, he would fly back, start calling, and when the hawk came back, fly off again.

The second time I passed by, he had flown to the roof and the hawk was coming back towards him. A very unfortunate blackbird was flying into the area while the hawk was heading back to the house and the hawk went after him. Though I couldn't see it, I think the hawk got the blackbird just out of view. Hopefully, there wasn't a second killdeer up there that she got instead.

The herons fledge, the male killdeer chicks leave

It looks like both heron chicks have fledged for good. I saw this one yesterday and when he got nervous, he flew back to the nest. But, today, there was no sign of life in the nest at all. I did see at least one heron still in the area, though.



The killdeer chicks and their parents have begun to go somewhere else other than the ballfield. Yesterday, Spike was in one ballfield and Squiggy was with his mom and dad. Castor and Pollux were not seen.

Squiggy

Today, Pollux was in a field next to Shy and her boyfriend who were beginning to mate and get serious about nesting again. He didn't get upset about me taking his photo.

Pollux

Peaches' ducklings are all still together. In fact, most of the ducklings are staying longer with their siblings and/or parents this year. Last year, they went off on their own by the time they were five weeks old. The ducklings have most of their feathers except for their fuzzy butts. In a couple of weeks, they will have their flight feathers.




Pepper looks like all the rest of the ducklings except for his black head. I wonder what his adult feathers will be like. Hopefully, we shall find out in a couple of months.



More duckling photos:

The parking lot ducklings (the last one of four):



Ducky's ducklings:



Those ducklings are very aggressive!

And, finally, these two killdeers were flirting. I think it's Junior and his mate. He just loves his girlfriend and can't stop flirting with her.

Killdeer George's 2010 family review

Here is a Youtube slideshow that shows George's family in progress for 2010:

Firecracker and Tiny?

Martha keeps watch over two other killdeer

Please bear with me as I hang on to hope that the new killdeer I've been seeing in George and Martha's territory are actually the two chicks and not new killdeer arriving for the fall early. I may have some "false" sightings

Today, when I arrived, I found George and Martha on the north side of the parking lot, but no sign of any other killdeer anywhere else (not even the "chicks") on the lake until I got to the ballfields. There, I originally saw ten, all of the same size. However, the one that I suspect is "Secret", the third killdeer chick from the M6 territory, got really upset soon after I got there and flew out. Eventually, she flew back to Del Cerro Point and hid in the brush. Another killdeer, I'm assuming her mom, tried her best to get her to go back to the field, but she wouldn't. It's just as well as the starlings decided to visit and all the other 8 killdeer ended up being pushed back to one little spot in the field.

While Secret and her mom were calling to each other, I heard two very distinct killdeer calls coming from the M6 territory. I'm very sure that all is well over there with Digger and her dad and possibly Shy, too. I don't know when or if they will join the "flock" over at the ballfield.

Firecracker and Tiny?

When I checked through my photos from a few days ago, I found a photo of a very shy male with underdeveloped wings standing near Martha before she flew over to fight with the intruding male. I had originally thought that killdeer was George at first as he flew off to the north and then it seemed that he flew back. But, when I was watching the family fight this male, a male flew back to the same spot where I saw Martha and the shy male in the first place. I thought it was another male waiting his turn to court the young female. Now, after looking at the photos, I know it was a youngster.

Today, when I was about to leave, I heard killdeer peeps in the west side of Alvarado Bay (where the grackles used to live) and found Martha and another, slightly smaller, killdeer nearby. Soon, I found out that there were three killdeer. I approached closer and thought I heard a trill, but couldn't tell if it was from mom protecting them, a killdeer picking a fight with Martha, Martha picking a fight with these two, or a chick being very nervous with me. Martha made no attempts to call for back-up and have George chase the intruders out, especially the male, which reinforces the idea that these are the chicks.

Martha and "Tiny" the male. Martha was standing on a sand bar, I think

Martha watches over Firecracker

I noticed there was a young male and a female there, though the female didn't look quite the same as the one I saw a few days ago. She was more golden brown, but she was also more dirty with gold-colored dirt all over her. The new color could be a combination of dirt and exposure to sunlight, but I can't be sure. It was also cloudier today than the other day. I looked closely at these photos and the photos I took before and both females in both sets of photos look very similar if not identical. So, I think there's a good chance that this is the same bird I saw before.

Am I dirty? I didn't notice.

Both her and the male looked like something was wrong with their wings, not deformed, but missing a feather or two. This may explain the reason why they couldn't seem to fly very high or do certain moves that the adults can do. They were all the same size, Martha and the two others. I could see what looked like new black feathers starting to grow on the female. The male's "mustache" was almost non-existent, but there appeared to be a "template" for where one was to grow.

Their feathers don't lay right around the tail area, something's missing (Tiny)

An earlier photo of Martha and Mary. See how their feathers lay near the tail?

George was not with the family when I saw them. I don't know where he was. It's possible that he was trying to avoid a fight with the little male or causing some other kind of stress with him. His last son was very aggressive towards his dad and often attacked him even at a very young age. George was often within "shouting distance" in case his son needed help, but the younger killdeer didn't want anything to do with his dad otherwise. Both dad and son avoided and stayed out of each other's way. This young male already seems to be taking a protective role with Martha and the little female.

Or, George could be setting up a place for the other male killdeer chick to live as both male chicks would have a hard time sharing the same space as they get older and breeding season starts.

Martha seemed to be protecting the two new killdeer. She even "stood watch" as they went along foraging. She stood behind them on a rock and watched me. If I made any kind of move in their direction, she would give the alarm call. But, mostly, they were very quiet.

The reason why I think this might be Tiny and Firecracker and not Firecracker and Killer (the middle chick) is that Killer hasn't been physically seen since day 3. I thought I heard him after that, but I didn't see him. It may just be that he's good at hiding and may still be scared being out in the open, which is why I haven't seen him lately. At least these two young killdeer are not very shy and scared of me as most of the other killdeer.

I don't think they've learned anything about predators yet. Martha seems to be teaching them by giving her alarm calls when I get to a certain distance away from them. This is a good time for them to come out as there are no grackles, crows or hawks in the area right now. There are vultures, but they don't like to put any effort into catching their food, so they won't chase them down.

Also seen today:

A little duckling, now probably 8 days old. Mom is letting him come up to me. Maybe it's the peas I give them, though they don't seem to eat any when I'm around.

Where's the peas, where's the peas, where's the corn, where's the peas?

Chicks' debut or new fall arrivals?

Aren't I cute? Little female's breastband looks like Martha's

Today started out like any other day at the lake, except that I almost stepped right on George and Martha as I entered into the park. I didn't see them until I was only a few feet away and they took off without making a sound. They were both very calm. A little spotted sandpiper made his appearance, too, following me around as I looked at the ducks and fed them some peas.

Martha and a sandpiper early in the morning

It was strange, no crows, blackbirds and grackles were seen or heard in George and Martha's little part of the world.

At the ballfield, I initially found 7 killdeer and then went to go look at the ducks in Del Cerro Bay. I saw two juvenile Cooper's hawks there. The little duckling was there and swimming right towards the hawks, but I think he ended up hiding in or near some reeds, so I think he was safe for the day. The grackles were spending the day on Del Cerro Point as well as near Cowles point, too. Very few grackles seen today. I the hawks are putting some pressure on them to leave the area.

Back at the ballpark, the second time I came around, I found ten killdeer there. One killdeer was calling on Cowles Point, but then flew over into the ballfield. When I looked, there seemed to be one or two possible small adults, maybe recently fledged chicks. I couldn't be sure as it's also getting close to having fall arrivals migrating into the area. It's still early, but they could start arriving at any time.

One of the small ones was a slim male, very dark in color.


The other small one might be a female.



When I went back to George and Martha's "home", I heard the sounds of territorial killdeer calls. George and Martha were on one side of the bay and two other killdeers were on the other. A third killdeer, a male, may have also been near the other two. George flew off when I got too close and made loud territorial calls all over his territory, even on the north side. Martha flew off and landed close to the invading couple and got into an argument with the invading male.

I went around to the other side and George had returned. I could see George and Martha totally puffed up and angry, mostly directing their anger mostly towards a male with a white feather on his back. I originally thought it was M4 (Grandpa killdeer), but his breast band was different than this one. There also was a small, cute, adorable little female killdeer who didn't seem to be interested in fighting at all. I thought I saw Martha make an aggressive move towards her, but if she did, she wasn't serious. Most of the attention was on Whitefeather, the large adult male. And, Whitefeather's attention was divided between Martha and George and the little pale-colored female.

George "dips" while Whitefeather goes around to confront him. The little female is on the right.

George (on rock) Martha (Left front) and Whitefeather (Left behind). All puffed up.

The little female seemed more interested in what I was doing and started to watch me take pictures of her. She didn't seem afraid of me at all, but cautious. Eventually, she pretty much walked right up to me, almost unafraid. I was hoping that this was Firecracker, the little female chick whom I thought was dead almost five weeks ago. She would be about 38 or 39 days old now, the right time for a killdeer chick to make her appearance into the open world and into killdeer society.

The little female on the left starts to come up to me while Whitefeather watches her and George and Martha watch him

Female chicks almost immediately get courted by adult males when they come out into the open. It's possible that mom and dad were defending her as she is not full grown for another two weeks. It also explained the arrival of another full-grown male on the scene, interested in all the hub-bub. I don't think that other male is Tiny or Killer, Firecracker's brothers, but I will have to get a better look to see next time.

However, this female is very pale and that often indicates that she may be an older female and not a chick. I've noticed that younger killdeer seem to be darker brown than the older ones and they get paler as they get older. But, I haven't confirmed that theory, yet. I have noticed that George, who used to be golden brown has started to get paler over the last year, especially at the base of some of his feathers. But, her color is mostly evenly spread throughout her body and that might indicate youth.

The little female passes within a couple feet of me. She has algae in her mouth

The male who was interested in this female began to become concerned for her as she walked away and started following with Martha following behind. George continued to stand on a rock and proclaim his territory until another human being walked by and scared them away.

George demands that everyone come back and fight with him

If this little female is Firecracker, her brothers may make their appearance next.