Today, it was very foggy early in the morning. In fact, the whole time I was there, it was foggy. It wasn't until after I left that it became sunny enough to get good pictures. As you can see from the photo above, there wasn't very much visibility.
In the photo below is a female killdeer in the same ballfield that the male I saw last time I was there. I don't know who she is. She seems to have the square head that many of the native-born killdeer at the lake have.
The next photo may be disturbing to some people. I saw a scaup way up on shore, not even near the water. That usually means trouble because they never come on shore except when they're sick or dying. I took a photo and tried to catch him, but he flew off way into the water. He looked normal while in the water. At first, it looked like he just had a little fishing line wrapped around him. It wasn't until I saw the photo that I realized not only did he have a fish hook in his tongue, the the fishing line was wrapped all over his body. I don't even think he'll ever be able to eat again. I did see him drinking some water, though.
In more disturbing news, a friend of mine found a mama duck that had been run over on the entrance road early yesterday morning. It was probably the same duck that I saw in the road earlier in the week that almost got hit several times. I checked all the female ducks in the area to see if I can identify one that might be missing. It's a little hard because some ducks are laying, so it's normal to have a few females missing. As far as I know, the only duck I couldn't find was Drama Mama, the one that had the two ducklings that kept wandering away a few years ago. I kinda lost track of her last summer, so I don't know if she's truly missing or had flown away.
While I was checking out the female mallards, I found this one with a chipped bill.
I was really was worried about Ducky's girlfriend because Ducky was all by himself. But, I think I saw her and she was OK. Ducky was being a butt-head and picking fights will all the drakes. For some reason, he seems to want to kill this beautiful young duck that is smaller than him. I don't know why he hates him so much. He and his girlfriend's brother are still buddies, though.
I don't know if it was because of the fog, but all the ducks were very itchy like they had mites. Hurt Wing was pulling her feathers out of her hurt wing. I wonder why. They look horrible.
Big Daddy was being a good boy and not trying to fight with anyone. He has been seen, however, checking out all the girls at the lake.
I saw this red-tailed hawk near where Ducky was. There was a lady feeding the squirrels and I wonder if he was using this time to take advantage of the squirrels coming out. I told the lady about the hawk, but she got snippy about it. She was basically setting the hawk's dinner table for him without realizing it. Some people are just so clueless.
