May 2014 Counting Day

Nutmeg Manikins.  I always see them there at Lake Murray

Today was the (unofficial) May 2014 counting day at Lake Murray in San Diego.  I was able to really get out and count the birds carefully because there were so few birds seen.  I only counted about 20 coots, which is the lowest number I've ever counted.  Mallard levels were low, too.  Unlike previous years, there were few ducklings and coot babies, too.  Western gulls, song sparrows, house finches and Anna's hummingbirds were the most numerous birds there.

I saw two gadwalls:

Surprisingly, we still have a few ruddy ducks around.  The scaup were there until a few days ago.

Baby Blue has a new girlfriend and they stick together all the time.  The male she was dumped with has left her because she prefers to be with Baby Blue.  She follows him everywhere.

The mom who had four ducklings still has three of them.  One of the smallest ones is gone.  They're about two weeks old now.  They were the only ducklings there.  Usually, there are at least 40-60 at this time.

This mean old coot didn't like the mama duck eating some grain that was nearby and chased her away:

The ducklings went and hid deep in the reeds and mama went with them.  I didn't see them again:

The two jerk geese were there where the ducklings are.  Well, the Canada goose is really sweet, but the white one is a jerk.

November 2013 counting day

Killer and Dee flying away

Today was my counting day at Lake Murray.  This time of year, counting can be a real chore and take most of the morning to do.  This year, I've counted the most coots that I've ever counted there, 1568, and those were the ones that I actually saw.  There might have been another hundred or two that I didn't see.

I only saw one black-crowned night heron, today:

There were a few green-back herons around, though.

I came across some turkey vultures waiting for a pair of gulls to start eating a nice fish when this pelican came, scooped up the fish, and swallowed it.  Here he is swallowing the fish.  He was the only pelican there.

Lots of nutmeg manikins.  I can recognize them by call now and I've found about four different populations of them around the lake.
 

Finally saw my first northern shoveler today.  Usually, they're the first migrating ducks, but this year, they were late:

Also saw my first American wigeons, though they stayed far away:

A pair of gadwalls.  I think this was the ones that might have been released by Project Wildlife.  The male has red feathers on his wing:

There's quite a few scaup at the lake now and I think I also counted a record number of ruddy ducks:

I saw four killdeer, two of which look like Killer and Dee.  Killer is George and Martha's son hatched in the summer of 2010:

Killer

Dee

Here's a close-up of Killer:

I think this might be Dee, but could be Killer again, but most likely Dee:

I won't go into detail about all the other birds I counted.  There were hundreds of yellow-rumped warblers, but not as much as I expected.  And, very few lesser goldfinches, too.

Louie, the Chinese gander, is swimming around the lake and I saw him way on the other side where Bumblefoot is.  He's herding the ducks around there.  I hope he doesn't hurt them.  I wonder if he's looking for Jill.

Counting day at Lake Murray

Today was my monthly counting day at Lake Murray.  I saw a few surprises including a common merganser and a Wilson's snipe.  I got a photo of the merganser, but not the snipe, whom I almost stepped on.  He flew away and hid so quickly, that I couldn't find him again.  Snipes look a lot like woodcocks and blend into their surroundings very well.

First, here's a photo of the common merganser (and some coots and a gadwall):

I saw a few buffleheads, too.

Pepper and his siblings and friends looked at me, expectantly, to feed them.  The one duck in the middle is Pepper's brother, bathing.  His little sister is on the right:

Something happened to Bossy (Spoonface).  Part of his wing feathers were torn off and he was limping.  Otherwise, he's fine and in good spirits.  He is a little more cautious, though.

I saw this fungus, too, growing on a tree.

I counted almost 700 coots, but only about 170 mallards.  This year, compared to last, there are fewer mallards and ruddy ducks, but more variety.  I am seeing wigeons for the first time and more shovelers.  Not many grackles.

George and his family came out and made sure they were counted, too.  All five youngsters and all four adults were there, but I didn't get good photos of all of them.

I think this killdeer might be Shy.  There were three or four other killdeer there, too.  One of them might be Miracle and she may have been checking up on her or on her younger brothers: