Allen's and Costa Hummingbirds (and ducks)

Allen's hummingbird

It's very unusual to see any kind of hummingbird other than Anna's in San Diego.  We are said to have the most Anna's hummingbirds in the entire United States.  But, today, several Allen's hummingbirds, males and females, were seen.  I had a hard time getting good photos of them.  I think I also saw one Rufous hummingbird as well.

The next photo is blurry, but you can definitely tell that it is a male Allen's hummingbird:

Here is a female Costa's hummingbird which is more common in this area, but still fairly rare.

Also seen today was about 20 or more California quail, mostly females and juveniles:

They quickly ran/flew and hid from me:

I saw Pepper today, but he was acting strange.  I think he had a feather stuck to his bill and it was annoying him:

And, Zippy, Skippy, and Yellowcheeks were all seen.  The ducklings are now 6 weeks old.  Zippy seems a little tired.

Fish Food Mama and Peaches were hanging out together this morning and I found Bigboi in the same area.

And, the three "boys", Pollux, his son and his baby brother had moved to another ballfield.  Here is a couple of photos of what I think might be Pollux's son, but he also looks a lot like Peanut, except the head shape is different.

I think I heard Killer Jr. and his family moving closer to the ballfield where Pollux used to be.  It's possible that is why they moved to this area, to keep their distance from the other family.

Killdeers getting excited about nesting

Digger (front) and Killer doing the dance

The killdeers are getting really excited about nesting season. I saw Killer and Digger doing the mating dances. Sorry for the blurry pictures, I didn't want to scare them off.

Killer was kind enough to show me his beautiful tail:

Killer says, "see my pretty tail"?

Ooops, I'm stuck

Syke! I wasn't really stuck. Look, we can walk on water!

I also saw this new duck at the lake. Not sure if he flew in or not. I hope he's not a new dumpee:



These geese were in the ballfields. The gray one bit me a few days ago:



The M4 male and his female were around on the other side of the lake. As usual, the female made herself difficult to photograph, so here is the male again:



George came to visit his old breeding area for some reason. He screamed and ran around like he had chicks there. When I left the area, he did the "where are you" call for the chicks, of which there weren't any in that area, I'm sure. Then, he left.

The friendly killdeer, Surprise, was chased off of George's and Killer's feeding area. He was probably looking for Firecracker again.

Before I left, I saw this pretty male quail. He was calling for a mate in an area where I don't usually see quail.