Baby season and summer birds

It's baby season and there seems to be plenty of breeding going on at Lake Murray lately.  While I haven't seen any ducklings for a couple of weeks, I saw plenty of other birds.  The baby osprey were flapping their wings and the heron chicks are getting big, though a bit far from fledging.  

Here's the first baby coot I've seen.  I saw one other that was all by himself:

Lots of baby pied-billed grebes around all of a sudden.  My camera didn't seem to like the lighting on these two fuzzy bodies:

Two handsome mallard drakes hanging out.  Most of the ducks I see now are bachelor mallards because most females are nesting.

One-foot ate and drank too much and is gaping because he couldn't breathe.  He was alright, though.

Two newly dumped ducks:

Baby Blue was very interested in both of them.  I think he wanted to fight the male who was much larger than him and he probably wanted the female, too.

I also saw some terns returning, two Forsters and one Caspian.  Bob2 was also there, all covered with spots, but she refused to let me take her photo, as usual.  She used to not mind me photographing her, but I think the increase in activity on the shore has made her weary.

Graphic pic ahead:

I found these pieces of a Cooper's hawk near a tree where Big Mama used to hunt.  I've seen her son and daughter hunting there from time to time.  This might be one of them.  I suspect a hawk or owl got him.  Here is what's left.  You can see the skull with the hooked bill, and part of a wing.

In other sad news, someone told me that they found a large duck carcass near where Oreo hangs out.  She said it looked like a mallard.  Oreo's gang is alright.  I even saw Stumpy, whom I hadn't seen for at least a year.  I couldn't find Buffy's son, though.  Also, two Pekins are missing, possibly Mr and Mrs. Pekin and it's possible that the carcass was Mr. Pekin because some people don't know the difference between a Pekin and a mallard.  But, I suspect that Mr. and Mrs. Pekin are together somewhere, staying away from the other ducks because of the condition of the Mrs who was near death when I saw her.

Peaches and a killdeer chick

I think the duck in the photo above might be Peaches or her daughter.  She has 7 little ducklings on this hot day.  Peaches is the mother of the ducklings that lived under the boat dock last year.  She was not too far away from the docks in this photo.  It's really late in the season for ducklings right now.  But, there is an advantage.  For one, the temperatures are higher, so there's less chance of hypothermia, but that might be a downfall because the ducklings can't regulate their temperatures either way.  Also, the herons are pretty much done with their chicks, so there are less of them around.  And, there are even fewer gulls right now, too.  The pelicans are still a threat, but they weren't around today.

I found the baby killdeer in the ballfields, she was pretty far away for me to take photos of her.  She's beginning to grow now.

There were a lot of starlings and blackbirds all around her, but they didn't attack or bother her or her parents.

Here she is passing by her dad:

The two dumped Pekin ducklings were nowhere to be found.  I'm hoping that they got picked up and taken away and that a predator didn't get them.  I will check, tomorrow, to see if they're still there or if they were just hiding from the sun today.

In the afternoon

Un-named chick

Today, I went to the lake in the afternoon, which I don't usually do.

I saw Neo and he was with his mom.

He's 6 weeks old now and is going to be a very handsome drake.

His mom's mate doesn't like him around and is constantly nipping and tearing out Neo's feathers.  He is tending to a wound on his back:

Neo is very mature for his age.  Compare how feathered out he is compared to these two below, who are two weeks older:

This is the little weakling whom I thought was going to die the first day.  Her back looks a little hunched, but I think it's just the way her new feathers are coming in.  There was a drake nearby, but no sign of the mom. Hopefully the drake isn't being meant to them, too.

The Fish Food Mama still has five 3.5 week old ducklings that are beginning to get feathers.  This duckling is in a weird position with a full crop, but you can clearly see the feathers:

Here are two more of the five ducklings.  This next one looks very sleepy, I hope he's not sick.

The mom with only one is being a very good mom and her duckling is still going strong.  It was cold today, so they had their feet curled up into their feathers/down:

The ducks are molting.  Here is Pepper was grooming his broken wing.  He has full movement with it, but I don't think he can fly and position it right anymore.

Pollux was seen with the two female chicks, Smudge and her sister who seems more mature.  I think Pollux was trying to encourage them to practice flying.

Smudge

Smudge

Un-named chick

Pollux, watching everything

I have not seen Squeak since last Tuesday, though I thought I heard the third chick and possibly Squeak nearby.  It's possible that they have divided the chicks due to them reaching their teenage period where the male chicks tend to get aggressive towards dad and the females begin to bond with the dad.  So, sometimes, the mom will take care of the male chicks at this age while the dad will take care of the females.

I heard Junior's chicks today, he has at least two.  He ran up to me and begin jumping up and down, trying to get my attention.  

Then, he did broken wing acts.  But, I think his chicks had traveled far away by the time I got to that spot.

Lake updates

I still only see two chicks.  However, though it's really hard to be totally sure from all the photos I took, it appears that the two chicks in the ballfield, today, are the two female chicks.  So, today, the male chick is nowhere to be seen.  One chick seems to be more mature than the other:

It was cloudy when I first arrived.  I didn't see any heron chicks, but found this adult heron.  I did see one chick later on.  However, about 100 yards from the heron nest were all these mostly eaten parts of what looks like a wood duckling, baby coot, and even a pigeon.  The duckling might have been another baby coot.  I know the red-shouldered hawk likes to roost in that tree, so I'm thinking that he raided the heron's larder as I've seen him in their tree now and then.

Neo was finally seen close enough for me to get a photo of him.  He is 38 days old now and is very feathered out for this age.

His bill is also turning very green, usually something that doesn't happen until at least seven weeks.  I can already see no distinguishing marks on his bill, so after he matures, I may not be able to distinguish him from the others.

I found this mama with one duckling, possibly about three weeks old, in the drainage ditch.

Fish Food Mama's ducklings were seen.  Here are four, Indy was just out of the photo:

Here is Indy:

Mom and the duckling that likes to stay near her:

This squirrel was really upset with me and made it clear that he thought I was a danger by screaming at me.

Big Daddy has decided to join Cinnamon's group and follow her around.  It seems like Stubby was displaced:

The smaller duck was warned away by the bigger duck when he passed close by:

Two baby coots nearby:

Finally, we say good-bye to this wonderful little ruddy duck.  I don't know what happened to him, he was found near where the duckling or baby coot parts were.  Some of his feathers look like they got plucked, but otherwise he was intact and it didn't look like he had any injuries.  He was also found on the opposite side of bay from where he usually hangs out.  It's possible the red-shouldered hawk attacked him, but he doesn't look like he's been attacked.  I thought it was strange that he was still at this lake this time of year when all the other ruddy ducks had left.  He also slept a lot, too, and wasn't getting into his adult colors as fast as he should.  Perhaps he was old and it was his time to go.

Another thing I noticed was a lot of feathers in one area and I can't figure out who they belonged to.  They kinda look like gadwall feathers and the gadwall was missing, but he was also in molt and his feathers had changed.  I also didn't see the Pekin and Swedish duck in that area, which is also strange.  Hopefully, they are OK.  In another area, I saw several small white feathers near where the snowy egret likes to fish.  They seemed to be too small to be egret feathers, but it's the only explanation.  I think something got him, too, or he was attacked and went to another area.

A killdeer chick is missing

I only saw two killdeer chicks and they were both out of the open in one of the baseball fields at Lake Murray.  I thought it was the two females, but when I looked closely, I saw it was Smudge and a boy killdeer.  No sign of the female with the long mark on her forehead.  I have no idea where she went, but hope she's just hiding.

Little boy killdeer chick

Smudge

Smudge and her brother in the background

 Smudge doesn't seem to be shy at all.

Squeak and Pollux were both there.  After I left, I could hear them screaming in panic.  I think a hawk or crow might have made its appearance. The screaming didn't last long, but I hope all of them are OK.  I'm sure they left the field and went back down to the water's edge.  Hopefully, they didn't run into any fast cyclists or anything.

Squeak

I saw this mom with one duckling and thought it was the mom that had four, then three, then two and now one.  Last Friday, I saw a gull harassing the mom whom had only two ducklings out of the four original, and I thought that maybe it got one after I left.  But, no, this is a new duckling.  Mom and duckling soon disappeared and went into hiding after I took this photo.  The mom with the two ducklings was seen and both ducklings are OK and doing well.

Mom with new duckling

Mom with four of the five ducklings.  The fifth was off-frame.  They are three weeks old now:

2 ducklings

Indy

Mom was keeping an eye on everything.

This duckling got some algae that was on a piece of fishing line.  But, he got it off him.

All five were out on the land, then, all of a sudden, they all ran to the water all at once.

I also saw the "brown mama" and one of her ducklings was screaming for her.  I didn't see any of the other ducklings, though I did see the mom looking for them.  I think one of the herons got one of her ducklings a week or so ago, but I'm not sure.  It could have also been another female's duckling.  I saw the two, almost grown, ducklings from the 10 that were hatched first this year, too.  I think I might have even seen Neo and his mom sitting under a bush.  I thought I saw Neo on the side of the lake in the same area on Friday.