Cloudy, drizzly day

The day started out with a weird hummingbird.  it looked like a juvenile Anna's hummingbird, but sang like an adult male Anna's.  Hmmm.  Also had a little more orange on it and a weird shape.

I saw these two male wood ducks who are molting.  I haven't seen wood ducks at Lake Murray in a long time:

A surprise!  There's still one duckling of the three that hatched in this area last week.

Butterscotch brought her three ducklings to the boat docks:

And Fish Food Mama still had her ten ducklings.

I usually can tell gender of the ducklings by this age, but, so far, I can only see one definite male duckling.  I'm thinking at least three are males. These look like girls, so far.

This baby kept checking out all the people, swimming back and forth.

No sign of Pepper, the little black duckling that ended up looking mallard-ish and had a broken wing.  I haven't seen him in a month.  He's gone missing for this long before, so I will wait.

And, it looks like the last of the three female Swedish ducks is gone.  Only Cow is left from that group.  She's only alive because she has a dedicated mate who protects her.

And, fun with the killdeer!

Here's Smudge, "trembling" her foot to scare out bugs:

An unlucky spider jumped out in front of her.  I guess trembling her foot works:

Her mate didn't seem very hungry.

Small birds and killdeer

Today, I took photos of small birds and killdeer at Lake Murray.  It was very cold this morning and many wild ducks were missing today, including Cinnamon, Bossy, Curly, Hurt Wing, Peaches, Pepper, and others.  All the domestic ducks and geese were accounted for.

First, here are some bushtit photos.  Bushtits never stay still, so it's often hard to get clear photos of them:

Next, we have a mystery hummingbird.  I saw this juvenile bird a week ago behaving much differently than the Anna's.  I thought it was a Costa's, then saw some orange-ness to it and thought maybe a calliope, Allen's or juvenile rufous.  Now, I think it's a Costa's again.  

I'm still on a quest to get a good common yellowthroat photo.  While this one was in a good position, it still came out too blurry.  

I saw a bunch of tree swallows, where else, in a tree!  They were swarming back and forth from the tree and across the lake:

Next, are the killdeer.  I've lost track of identifying many of the killdeer, but I think the first is either Martha and George or Martha and her daughter who looks like George.  In the third photo down, George III can be seen to the right.  Other than that, most of the photos look like the rest of the juveniles as well as a few from across the lake.

 

Digger (or Shy) "flirts" with dad in the ballfield

Lake Murray Ballfield Killdeer

I saw a really small, cute female in one of the ballfields with the M6 (Beautiful) Dad. She was really close to a fence and when I went over to see her, she crouched down on the ground and tried to hide in the grass. She appears to be around 8 weeks old, but still a little undersized. The dad constantly called and chirped to her when she made her alarm calls and trills at me. I think it might have been one of the two female chicks from the M6 area, most likely Digger.

Digger (or Shy) at 8 weeks

Eventually, she calmed down and started over towards her dad. It appeared that she was flirting with him as her behavior was totally strange. She would crouch down and seem tease him. When he came up to her, she would get up and run away. I don't know if she was being a flirt or trying to entice her dad into a game of chase by flashing her red tail feathers at him. Her dad responded with a swelled up neck and puffed up chest feathers, but little else. He may have been puffed up to warn other males to stay away from his daughter.

Playing around with dad

It's possible that the lack of a mom around may have confused her a little when it comes to flirting with her dad. Normally, the mom would be nearby to nip that kind of behavior from the beginning. But, it wasn't serious and I don't think she knew what she was doing. When a starling broke them up, the young female went back to feeding and the dad was shadowing her, not acting like he was interested in her other than protecting her. I think they tend to be at least 4 months old before they breed, so she's got a while to go. And, it's likely that another male will claim her before then (especially if she's a flirt).

A starling breaks them up

I'm glad to see them because they're really ripping it up in their territory. Here's a photo of the road being torn apart only a few feet from where the chicks used to hide:

Construction just feet from where Digger (or Shy) used to hide

It's possible that the other female chick was somewhere around, but I didn't see her.

George and Martha's Family

When I was leaving, I didn't expect to find any killdeers in Alvarado Bay as the water level was really high and George doesn't like it that high. But, when I was walking through a grassy area, a large killdeer flew off. It called and even though I couldn't see it, it sounded like it landed passed the fenced area and called to a second killdeer nearby. I couldn't get a photo of the first killdeer, but I think it was Tiny as the second killdeer was Firecracker. Even when they were chicks, they were almost always together. Firecracker flew off and I thought I saw her going to a little bay on the north side, but when I got there, she was gone. I can't figure out where they go when they go to the north side.

Firecracker at 8 weeks

George and Martha haven't been seen for over a week and I'm beginning to suspect that they may have a new nest and possibly new chicks. George becomes very parental the last week before the eggs hatch and the first week the chicks are around. I saw Martha flirting with George about a month ago, so that would mean that the eggs, if there are any, have hatched. Unfortunately, I can't get to that area to check on them.

Also, the third chick, Killer, hasn't been seen for a while, but he was always scared of people and being out in the open. When he was a chick, from the third day, he always lagged behind to stay hidden longer. So, he may still be with mom and dad, which would indicate that there are probably no new chicks, yet.

Also Seen:

A spotted sandpiper. I didn't notice the piece of plastic when I took this photo or I would have picked it up:



A bunch of baby grebes and a parent:



Two ganders (the brown one can be bitey):



I think this might be an Anna's hummingbird because it has a red crown. This guy was demanding that I take his photo:

Here's the house finch again

Here's the house finch that resides on my antenna:



And here's a photo with his friend, a hummingbird.