Lake Update, night heron, killdeer and more ducklings

I just wanted to give a general update as to what has been going on at the lake in regards to the killdeers and other animals.

First of all, we have a night heron around near the main entrance stalking the squirrels. There are a ton of squirrels there, but a lot of people are upset because a lot of the animals near the parking lot are often thought of as some people's personal pets. They are fed and sometimes handled regularly. I am a bit bothered because they will eat killdeer chicks, though there aren't any around right now.


And, there is a new duckling in the neighborhood, about four or five days old and the heron is nearby. The heron sits at a squirrel burrow opening and waits for the squirrel to come out. I fear that he will do that with a duckling's hiding place, especially since ducklings don't know what to be afraid of and run right into the heron's mouth.



But, he's made it four or five days so far and the heron has been around that time, too. And, he has his mom around to protect him.

The killdeers are doing great. M2 is in his own territory, calling for his mate, whom I didn't see. But, females are basically allowed to go anywhere they want and she may just be feeding someplace else. I can't imagine that she can put off laying those eggs any longer. I wonder if killdeer can delay egg laying like some other birds can. Well, I'll find out. But, then again, she may just go and sneak some eggs into other female birds' nests. I've heard of that happening with killdeer, but it's rarely observed.

M1 ("Little Male") was originally on the south side beach when I found him. He has figured out that if he goes near the picnic tables, away from the shore, that it's harder for people to see him, so he's been hanging out there. It really is harder to see him there, though. He went over to where two men where feeding the duckling, ducks, and pigeons after they left to get some of the seed that was left. But, he got annoyed by some people and went over to his north side. I think that's when M2 sneaked over to his territory (probably because his mate was hiding over there) as I didn't see him when I left.

M4 and his mate (I can't remember what number she is, but I'll call her Bo) were doing just fine and I actually saw the two together. At first, M4 was agitated while his mate didn't seem to mind. He did his hiding thing, but he also did a gesture that I'm finding pretty common with killdeer and I don't know what it means.

What I've seen M4 and other killdeer, mostly males, do is turn his back towards me, stick his tail way up in the air and his head way down the ground, exposing his white belly. He doesn't spread or flash his tail feathers at all. I don't know if it's a trick to hide, or a white flag of surrender telling me that he's not going to fight and he wants me to go away. I know that when killdeers make threats, they generally flash the tail at the intruder, stick their tail up in the air while facing the intruder. Every time he would bow down and face towards me, he would quickly turn his back. If I don't respond, he will look back to see if I'm looking, or flatten himself on the ground. Usually, at the same time, he gives a loud trill.

M4 starting to "dip" Eventually, his whole front end will be on the ground with just his tail in the air

Eventually, he calmed down and decided I was not much of a threat and pretty much walked right up to me. I even saw him go over to the water and drink and eat a bug, which I've never seen him do. He, then, got annoyed at me and went somewhere else.

M4 getting annoyed, and calling before leaving

"Bo" running

"Bo" thinking of leaving She looks like she might have gotten into some fights, too.

Stealing females and update on the ducklings

M2 was nowhere to be seen, but I could definitely hear him. I still haven't found his nest, but I know it's around and it's probably within sight of people as I hear him trilling and making frustrated calls. But, I haven't spotted it. I swear, though, I heard him calling and saw him landing in a tree! I've never heard of killdeer ever being in a tree, even for a moment. I will definitely be looking upward for him if I can't find him otherwise. This will be an interesting observation. The only reason why he might be in the tree was to keep track of "Little Male" and his own territory. But, I don't think that killdeer have the right kind of feet to hold onto a perch.

In the meantime, I see he's been harassing "Little Male" off and on, claiming part of his territory on M1's south side. M1 often can be heard calling back to him. Later, sometimes, M1 will go off and call over M2, M3 and M5s' territory probably hoping to lure females away from them. In the past, M2 would ignore M1's attempt to steal mates, but now that he has a mate of his own, he has gotten involved and has begun to chase M1 sometimes. The birds chased each other out of sight and I couldn't see the result of the fight. These things can take hours, so it's no use to wait it out.

Update on Ducklings

More ducklings are hatching and I have recently seen at least a dozen brand new ones in the last few days. However, the lake is being lowered and that has put many ducklings in risk of being snapped up by fish and turtles. So, just about all the ducklings between 10 days and 5 weeks old have been in hiding. I haven't seen the seven that I fed the cereal to since that day, but their parents are around and I assume they're hiding. I occasionally see the one duckling that hatched in M1's territory.

Today, I think I might have seen the two ducklings I call the "Drama Ducklings" because I wrote a photo essay about how one got away and got lost. They got lost two days later, but since then, their mom has been glued to their side. I haven't seen them in four days, but I thought I saw two small ducks swimming around the reeds in the "restricted area". They disappeared quickly. I went to where I could look into the reeds from across the bay and saw a small "cave" with mom and dad sitting in the front and it looked like two dark fluffballs sticking out of the reeds behind them. Mom was looking back often, either grooming herself or keeping an eye on her babies. But, I couldn't totally verify if there were really two ducklings there as there are also small coots and grebes nearby, too.

I may not get to see them again until they fill up the lake after the road repairs, which will be in about a month. It will be good to see how many survived. I want all of them to survive because they're so cute! However, that wouldn't work very well in nature. God (or nature if you prefer) has given ducks the ability to produce lots of eggs and young so that enough will survive to keep the species going, but at the same time provide food for other organisms as much as I don't like to think about it.

The "Drama Ducklings" at 10 days old, the last time I saw them