Lots of killdeer and a pelican

Killdeer at sunrise

Lots of killdeer around today, hanging around in Cooper's hawk territory.  I think I counted nine or ten of them including Squeak:

Squeak

And Miracle (I think that's Killer Jr. in the background):

Three other killdeer.  I think one might be Killer and the others might be the offspring of the "Beautiful Dad":

This one looks like George III:

Fred, the greater yellowlegs, has finally found the killdeers and is happy now:

Unfortunately, the feeling doesn't seem to be mutual on the killdeer's end:

A white pelican visited Lake Murray today, but he didn't seem to be very hungry and looked to be not feeling too good.  I think he might just be tired and needed to rest:

I'm not 100% sure, but I think the faded mallard drake might be one of Indy's brothers:

These might be Indy's other siblings, but no sign of Indy anywhere:

This is the first northern shoveler I've seen at the lake so far this year.  The scaups are starting to come in, too.  But, the only gadwall's I've seen, so far,  are the ones that are at the lake all year-round.

Down to 5 ducklings, 1 sick

Sadly, Mama lost two of her ducklings some time on Monday or Tuesday.  The more lanky black duckling and a regular yellow duckling, whom I've noticed is a little weaker and not as zippy than the others, was gone.  At first, everything seemed to be good with the remaining five.  But, then, I saw something strange.

At first, this one duckling seemed to get stuck in the rocks when the ducklings were there feeding.  Then, he started lagging behind the group, way behind, and swimming in circles, alone.  He was way far from the others, easy picking for a gull.

I've seen this behavior before in ducklings and other waterfowl, it's not good and a sign of illness or a neurological problem.  He did make it to shore and I tried to catch him, but when I did, he was suddenly "cured" and ran up to Mama.  I told him that if he could keep up with the group, he can stay and I won't try to catch him anymore.

While his siblings eagerly ran around looking for food, he just stood there with his tail tucked in, not eating as seen in the next photo (that's him on the left).  I thought I saw him drink some water.  He really wanted to be under his mama, though.  He also seemed to have trouble with his balance.

The other ducklings were extremely busy trying to find food.  These two seem to be best friends right now and have been hanging out together since they were a few days old.

Mama couldn't stay still or brood the sick duckling because this juvenile hawk was hanging out in the area, making her nervous.  The gulls were harassing him while he sat on the pole and eventually chased him off.  Mama kept quacking as if to say "Hawk! Hawk!" to her little ducklings:

Mama took her ducklings away and I did see the sick duckling try to stay under Mama as much as he could, but she kept moving.  Each time she did, he would go right back under her, but she didn't fully brood him.  However, that seemed to help as, afterward, he seemed better and was keeping up with everyone just fine.

Later, when the sun was out and warmer, I saw the family far away from that spot, the sick duckling was acting normally and swimming with the group.  I think he's in the middle of the group in this photo, possibly the one with his eyes closed:

Here are the two best friends again:

The sick duckling, again, swam away from the group and closer to me.  It was almost as if he was telling me that he's OK and I don't need to try to catch him anymore.

As they swam off, I couldn't really tell which one was the sick one.  I hope it was hypothermia and not something the other ducklings could catch or some kind of food poisoning.  I have a feeling, though, I won't see him again and Mama will, soon,  be down to 4 ducklings.  She will have lost half her brood, something which I've never seen happen to her before. If it was any other mother duck, I would just say, "oh well, that's nature and the life of ducklings."  But, this is Mama and she never loses more than one or two.

But, I have some good news!  The two ducklings hatched about 5 weeks ago, are still alive and doing well.  I can no longer tell which was the yellow one, but I think it is the one in back.  Both are still very small and appear to be females.

Big stretch!

Yellowcheeks seems to have lost her yellow cheeks and has gotten more round.  She seems to be a very proud mama.

Stretching again!  You can see how small they are compared to adult ducks.  But, they seem healthy.

We also have another baby coot:

And, it appears that the mama duck (mate to Snowy, the snowy mallard), who had eight ducklings about two months ago, had at least one survive, perhaps two or three, I'm not sure.  I keep forgetting to take photos.  They were hanging out with mom and dad this morning.  One has become a very large male duckling, about the size of his dad.  The other two seem more normal.

Fish Food Mama

Mom with four ducklings

 Indy was off doing his own thing when the photo above was taken.

I think this next one is Sweetie:

Two more ducklings:

Three together (not my bread left there):

Better news on the dumped ducklings.  The weaker one on the right managed to get rid of the sinker, hopefully he didn't swallow it.  And, both of them were seen foraging and eating this morning.  The stronger one was not mean to the weaker one at all today and was even affectionate.  I am calling them Sinker and Stinker.  Sinker is the one on the right and is the one that had the fishing weight attached to his bill:

Neo seems lonely and wants to be their, and everyone else's, friend:

Here is another duckling about the same age as Neo on the other side of the parking lot:

More ducklings and killdeer chicks

I saw at least 20 more new ducklings yesterday. All of them passed under the heron's nest. One family had 8 ducklings and looked like it was headed by Caramel, one of the "fish food ducklings" from last year. Her ducklings look like they're a few days old:



The other mom hung around the heron's nest and the Canada gander who wasn't being nice, but wasn't as aggressive because those two Chinese ganders were keeping him in check. She had 12 ducklings and was trying to leave the area, but people and the gander were making it hard. I had to leave before knowing if she made it past that area or not. I think she might be Caramel's sister, Butterscotch or Peaches:



Some of the ducklings fell asleep in the water and just floated around while sleeping:



Bottoms up! A few of the ducklings were already good divers and dabblers!



Across the lake, the killdeer chicks were in the ballfields with all the crows and cars! I only saw the two largest chicks. I thought I heard the two smaller chicks nearby in the brush, but it was hard to hear because there were 6 adult killdeer and music going from a fun run nearby. And, the two that were missing were the "quiet chicks", so they don't have loud calls.





One minute, they were there, next minute, they were gone. They're very fast and one was aggressive towards birds twice his size. I'm going to name him Spike when he gets bigger. Mom made sure to talk to me a little while I was there.


She's being a good mom compared to last time. I wonder if it's because she has all boys this time.

Still no sign of Oreo. Plus, her "posse" was also not seen yesterday. Someone said he spotted her in a weird place where I've never seen her. I didn't believe him at first, but I have been noticing that all the ducks are moving away from their usual spots, so it could be true.

The Fish Food Ducklings Slide Show!

Here's a slideshow of the "Fish Food" ducklings, three of which made it to their 5th week! Enjoy!

Again, if you have trouble viewing this, you can click HERE.