Stop throwing rocks for Pete's sake!!

Today was a sad day for the family of four coots near the end of Padre Bay at Lake Murray. They were doing perfectly well, both chicks strong and loud. But, a great blue heron began stalking them right after dawn. Then, he got one of the two chicks (the smaller one) and flew off.

Their last surviving baby

All the killdeer are fine. Just about all of the ones at the lake are juveniles from this year. I thought I only counted six today, but I may have heard Killer Jr. near the ballfields. The adults have completely disappeared.

Bob the sandpiper's baby was feeding in her territory. You can tell it's a baby by the way the feathers look on the wings and it's shorter tail. She's still downy, too. I took this before dawn, that's why it's dark:



I took this photo of Pepper today, he's looking great and I love the green-black feathers on his back:



And, here is a juvenile black-crowned night heron:



A rant about rock throwing:

I've been seeing less rock throwing at Lake Murray lately and it makes my visits there much more enjoyable not to see stuff like that happening. But, still, there are lots of kids who throw rocks and parents who actually throw rocks with them. Today was another day where ducks were actually hit by rocks thrown by kids and this time their parent/guardians thought it was funny. I had spoken to these people before because their kid was running around chasing the ducks, including Doodle, who is very sick right now. The adults did absolutely nothing about it.

It is not lake staff's job to act as rangers and they are often not around to stop these people. I am very tempted to start filming/photographing people who are harassing and throwing rocks at the ducks at the lake and parents do nothing to stop or think it's funny. I may start posting their photos here. This also includes people who let their dogs chase the animals, too. I'm not sure if I'm going to do it, but I'm thinking about it. I may also take photos of license plates, too.

Throwing rocks at animals is not cute or funny!

Another warning: I have heard from many people who visit the lake who are very tempted to physically hurt people who do this.

Seagulls, geese and ducks

I was writing an article for Examiner.com (I'm the San Diego Nature Examiner) and had to take a photo of Lake Murray's new "no feeding" signs for my article. While I was there, I snapped a few photos of the other birds.

First, though, a killdeer update:

Killer and Digger have been seen feeding in George's feeding area while George and Martha are possibly attending to a new nest beyond the fenced area. Other killdeer have been heard, but not seen.

OK, now back to the other birds:

Here are some seagull shots from Lake Murray:

2nd year ring-billed gull wading:



Baby (1 year old or less) ring-billed gull:



Baby (1 year old or less) Calfiornia gull. He was pretty rough looking, possibly sick, but could fly:



The two trouble-making Chinese geese:



Aflac and Latte arrive too late to be fed:



Heron sitting in her nest:



Ducky and his friends were not seen today. It's possible that Ducky's mate has gone broody early. Hopefully, the heron won't eat her ducklings.

Update on "Digger" the killdeer chick

Today was the last day I would have been able to visit "Digger" and her dad before they closed it for repairs on the drainage ditch. She is two weeks old today give a day or so. I found the dad down by the benches near where the chicks first hatched. I heard the sounds of chicks peeping in possibly two directions, but definitely one. "Digger" was seen quite a bit today. Not only is she a very effective hider, but now she can run pretty good, too. She always kept one step ahead of me as I searched. Whenever I would go to look for her in a place where I saw her hide, she would run off to another place. By the time I got to the first place, she was far away from there. Since she has the habit of burying herself, I do not pursue her beyond a visual search. I would rather she not get hurt by my searching than to accidentally step on her or bury her even more.

M6 Dad trying to get me to look at him so that his daughter can move to another area

I couldn't get a photo of her because every time I saw her, she was obstructed by branches. But, she's still pretty tiny and covered by fuzz. I would say she's about 1/3 the size of her dad if at that. But, she was very mobile and could keep up with dad running. She also seemed more confident. I believe unless something strange happens, she will most likely make it another two weeks until she can fly. I also think she will be fine during the construction as she and her dad will most likely move reasonably quickly out of the way as long as nothing sudden happens or someone doesn't run over or throw things over the brush the first minute construction starts.

No sign of mom in the area. Am hoping she is in another area with any of the other missing chicks.

Also seen in the area was the juvenile blue heron. I wanted to "move him along" out of the area because of the chick(s). He was paying way too much attention to dad who ran by him chirping, paying no attention to the big bird. The heron watched and moved towards him. Generally, the herons in this area eat only fish, but I could see him snagging a bird (especially a small one) if the opportunity arose. I "mosied" him along twice, but on the second time noticed the 12 inch long fishing line stuck to him. He seems fine and it does not seem to be hindering him, but I am concerned about it. I would hate to see anything happen to that bird's leg considering how he just reached adulthood and just started out on his own. He may manage to get it off by himself as it seems to be only loosely coiled around his leg. But, it could get snagged on some reeds.

I also saw another round of coot chicks, too. Didn't think I would see any more of those this year.

Coot and chick