Sissy Returns and Other Birdy Happenings

Sissy, the buff duck, seems to have returned from her three-month absence in the reeds at Lake Murray. She had no ducklings this year. Her sister, Pumpkin, has not been seen or heard, yet, but she may still be in there as she often comes out after Sissy leaves.

This poor duck's eyes are swollen shut. I saw him a week later and they were less swollen, but he still had problems seeing. I haven't seen him recently. I thought maybe he was having severe mite problems, but now I think he got stung by a bee or spider.

At my home, we had a baby dove fledge and leave for good. Here's a photo of him still in the nest with his dad.

In sad news, I think something happened to that one young goose that was always lagging behind and who couldn't fly out with the others. This looks like a Canada goose wing, but it's all folded up and missing the "fingers". If I were to unfold this, it would be pretty big, so it rules out any of the ducks or other birds. I'm thinking he died in the water or the reeds. I found it near where he was last seen. I thought I he finally got away because the next time I went to that area, all the other geese were hanging out there.

In other sad news, I think I found out what happened to Miss Skeeter. I found a lot of light-brown feathers in the same area where Mr. Squeaky was found. This area is in a direct line from where I last saw her. I think the feathers were out there for at least a month or six weeks which would put them back to when I got the last report of her in late July.

Birds in love

  Nesting season is in full swing!

Dove on her nest

Cinnamon and her 5 boyfriends (plus another pair)

Jill and her Romeo

 

Wood duck pair

The next photo is of a female killdeer that I can't identify.  She looks a lot like George III and even acts the same, but has different markings and is a female.  I think she might be Killer and Dee's only daughter.  Maybe she was looking for Squiggy.

Baby Bob isn't ready to nest, yet.  She doesn't have her spots, yet.

Update on killdeer egg:

The killdeer egg was missing two days later.  However, the parents as well as Shy and her mate have all left the area.  I don't think it was the first egg to be laid, but the last to hatch.  I thought I heard chick sounds on Saturday and on Monday when I found the egg.  I think the first egg probably hatched on Saturday, more chicks hatched Saturday/Sunday, and the egg hatched Monday.  If this is the case and there were chicks hatched, they will probably return to that area in the next few weeks.  I have looked all over and the only killdeer I have found around there are Shy, Secret's son, and perhaps Shy's mate.  

New goose dropped off:

A new goose was reportedly dropped off at Lake Murray a couple days ago.  I tried my best to find it, but haven't.  People say it was hanging around Louie, but I still can't find it.  If I do, I will post a photo of it.  Someone said it was a baby and really friendly.

Jill can fly!

Pollux's mate in the ballfields

Came to the lake and heard Louie and the Canada geese making a ruckus.  I thought that Louie and Picked On were fighting, but then I saw Jill moving away from the area with two Canada geese as chaperons.  I think she came over and is considering Louie as a mate as it is the beginning of the season.  Then, the two Canada geese started flying and so did Jill!  She only got about two feet above the water, but she flew most of the way.  Never thought I would see that.

Here is Louie back on his side of the lake.  He's scared of going to the other side.  Jill stayed on the other side, but stayed in a place where she can easily see or hear Louie.

Louie

Spoonface is on the move with his orange ring, now seen closer to where he usually is, but heading north.

Here is a photo of a friendly female scaup.  Several males and females were close by:

This dove was sitting on the speed limit sign at the lake.  The speed limit is really for people on bikes.  There's been a few accidents there between bikes and pedestrians.  

I opened a new Cafe Press story selling some of my photos on T-shirts, etc.  It's called Just Ducky by Darlene.  

Another foggy day.

It was another foggy morning today and many photos I took did not come out well at all, so only a few are posted for today. I had one of a yellow-rumped warbler, but it was too blurry to post.

First, here's George and Martha:



Although this photo is blurry, I wanted to show how big Baby Bob (front) is next to the killdeer (back). She doesn't have the long legs, but her body is almost as big as theirs. She's almost the size and shape of a ruddy turnstone.



Pepper, hanging out. Notice the nice pattern forming on his chest:



I found a pile of feathers under a tree and when I looked up, the male Cooper's hawk was eating a dove. He wasn't very co-operative with me getting his photo, so it didn't come out as well as I'd like. Here he is with the half-eaten dove. He's clutching it against the branch. You can see the belly and legs of the dove hanging out below the branch near his tail:



I also saw a couple of shoveler ducks, too:



Bigboi and Doodle were not seen, but it was foggy. It is very unusual not to see Bigboi in the morning. He was still missing when the fog lifted, too.