The Return of Some of Snowie's Ducklings?

Before I start with the possible return of three of Snowie's March ducklings, I'm sorry to say that one of the Pekins went missing at Lake Murray during the last month. I'm not 100% sure which one it was, but it could be Mr. Squeaky or one of the older ones. There's no sign of him anywhere.

Now to the strange news. These two buff-hybrids showed up about a month ago, and they were the right age to be Snowie's ducklings from way back in March. They appeared to be rouen and buff and I thought maybe Pumpkin or Sissy laid eggs in Snowie's nest. However, I am starting to notice some appleyard traits in them.

What's really odd is that these two ducks, whom are obviously domestic ducks, behave just like the wild ducks. This is unusual for dumped ducks and even ducks raised by wildlife rescues. It's possible that someone raised and returned them, but it's also possible that they were stolen by another female duck and raised in another location at the lake. I'm betting someone took them as they disappeared right before Easter and during a time there were a lot of people at the lake due to a major news story in the area. Either that or they're just regular dumped ducks.

Another duck that may have returned is "Uno" the last of Snowie's ducklings. He looks like a twin of Snowie's mate and was actually at the lake for a couple of weeks before I noticed that he was something new. What's even weirder is that he remembers his name and will sometimes come when I call him. He seems to have some recognition of Snowie and her mate Snowy, too, though they definitely show no signs of recognizing him. His head and bill shape is also the same as Uno, also. So, regardless of where he came from, he is going to be known as Uno from now on.

The two new geese are less afraid and will come up to me now. They are very well mannered. They seem to think they belong to the flock of "Sissy, Pumpkin and Runner Duck" and are always nearby. I think Pumpkin likes them and calls for them when they're not around. I'm not so sure that Sissy and the boys like them. I've caught them nipping at Runner Duck, but not really hard.

There is a resident female killdeer in George's territory. I think it's Little Miracle. There is a male killdeer in Junior's territory and when these two get together, there's a lot of vocalizations. Little Miracle will greet me, but, of course, doesn't let me get too close.

Some other fun pictures include this green heron that I saw this morning:

 A common yellowthroat:

And I did a shorebird count at the San Diego river mouth later in the day, but this picture of a long-billed curlew was the best that I got.

Other than Miss Friendly, it looks like the other three ducklings have appeared again. I don't have any good pictures. There were two boys and two girls overall. The two boys are really scruffy and one of them is extremely friendly. I call that extremely friendly one "Goofball". His brother is not as friendly.

Bigboi trouble and domestic duck update

It's been a while since I was at Lake Murray and I wanted to check up on the two female buff ducks.  One of the females had a swollen belly.  When I didn't see her, I figured she died.

Here is her skinny sister.

The runner duck was walking around protecting her:

I didn't see Bigboi, but I wasn't that worried because he often goes off on his own and figured that the old duck would be OK.  When I walked away, the runner duck ran over to a concrete wall next to the sidewalk and kept looking over into these weeds.  I could see the weeds moving around, so I went to check.  It was then that I heard a male duck quack and could see Bigboi stuck between the weeds and the wall:

I grabbed him and pulled him out.  He didn't even thank me and ran over to the skinny blonde duck.  The runner duck followed him.  He seemed fine.  I was afraid I grabbed him the wrong way.  He was pretty scared when I grabbed him.

Later, I found the duck with the swollen belly.  She didn't look at me.  Apparently, she was hiding in the reeds either to hide from the males, or to lay eggs.  She promptly disappeared back in the reeds.  Apparently, Bigboi was stuck in the reeds after trying to get to her.

The crested runner mated with the skinny duck and, afterwards, all the males got together to talk about it:

There were two wigeons nearby, too:

Here's Baby Blue and a green heron:

This green heron was clucking around, obviously upset about something:

This is my spot!

I think he was upset with two other herons feeding in the same area and he was the smallest.  The biggest, a great blue heron, flew off, but a smaller snowy egret stayed behind.

No, it's MY spot!

Lake update 7/9/2013

I only went out to Lake Murray for a short time and my camera battery died, so I only could get a few photos.

Snowie's little weaking

I was surprised to see that Snowie's ducklings had made it to the two week old mark.  She does nothing to warn them of danger or control them and they just go everywhere they want.  One of them reminds me of Pepper's brother.

Here is the latest photo of Cow and two of her boyfriends.  She is the only female to survive from that big group of ducks dumped off last year:

This green heron was near the ducklings, but they weren't in any danger from him:

A very quiet juvenile pied-billed grebe:

I think this is a recently fledged Brewer's blackbird, though the blue around the feathers is throwing me off.  I think it's his chick down:

After this, my camera battery died.  I wanted to show a photo of the black Indian runner duck that I found a week ago who showed up in another area.  He's doing well and completely ignores me.  I think he thinks he's a wild duck.  Also, the mother with the two ducklings that the kids were throwing rocks at also moved to a new area and the ducklings are HUGE.  They aren't a whole lot older than Snowie's ducklings, but are at least twice the size and beginning to feather well.

George is heard, but not seen. Also, ballfield killdeer update

Male and female at the ballfield. The male had his eye on me the whole time.

I didn't see George or Martha again, but I heard George make a call when some people walked over near a dock. When I looked there, I saw no signs of any killdeer at all. But, I know that George is still around and I often hear him but don't see him. It's possible that he doesn't like the new water level as it brings him too close to where people walk.

4th of July chicks should be flying now

All 4th of July chicks who have made it this far should be flying by now, but they won't be very good at it for another couple of weeks and will probably rely on running and hiding still. They will be about 1/2 the size of their parents, but fully feathered. Flying will give them a new advantage against predators even though they won't have the ability or stamina to fly very far or high. They should be full-sized by 8 weeks old, or in about another month.

In the M6 area, all is quiet. I don't even see people doing construction there. I'm sure Digger and Shy are just fine and practicing their flying. If the road opens, soon, I will go check on them.

Junior should be a dad now

Junior (aka Little Male), son of George (M2) should now have a family as it's been more than 28 days since he mated with the smooth-band female. I haven't found him or his family. I can't search everywhere, though, and wish him and his family good luck. Junior has always been more high strung than any other killdeer and never had a lot of tolerance for me, so it's good that he will be raising his chicks without having to worry. Perhaps I will see his next family and he will have become calmer.

Killdeer at the ballfield

I think I spotted Mary over in the ballpark again. There were 9 killdeer there, 8 were the ones from that area and the 9th was Mary, all by herself. The other killdeer seem to like her, but she won't be able to get a mate unless an unbonded male takes her in. One male seemed to be following her around a bit, but later on, she was still alone. Mary is also a very large female, it looks like. Also at the ballfield, it appears that there were some young killdeer, perhaps about six to eight weeks old.

Mary eating with the doves. She likes seeds more than other killdeer do.

Mary with another female

Also seen at the ballpark was Digger and Shy's mom. I think she might either have new eggs or is hiding chick #3 over in the "disputed area" nearby. Bo was also at the ballfield as well as the bow-tie male and possibly the old male killdeer, M4.

The killdeer at the ballpark like to keep me at a distance, so it's hard to get really nice photos. It's so funny. I walk into the ballfield and the killdeer all watch me, begin to due hiccups and move away, but they stay quiet. As I turn to go away, they all start doing peeps, or mild alarm calls. Very funny. No problem going towards them, but I guess they had to say something to me as I leave.

I found this one funny photo of this killdeer. She was grooming herself and then got her foot stuck over her wing, presumably as she was scratching her head. She did this a couple of times, but she's OK, she got the foot out.

Grooming mishap! She was alright and got her leg in the right place after the photo was taken

Also seen this day:

A juvenile green heron, possibly newly fledged. I've seen a parent there before, but never knew about the babies. He caught a fish while I was watching.


A snowy egret showing off his yellow feet


A juvenile pied-bill grebe. He was sleeping on the shore and I thought he was a sick duck, so I came closer to check him, but he went into the water and went to sleep there. I never thought these grebes ever got out of the water. He still has some stripes on his head.