A new killdeer nest

Junior

Well, I thought Junior already had chicks, but, no.  I finally found his nest and it was right by where everyone walks.  No wonder why they were getting so excited when I walked that way.

Junior's mate warns me not to step on the nest (which, at that time, I couldn't see):

Here is the nest.  I'm not going to divulge its location, but, fortunately, I can observe it without having to get too close to it.

When I left, both Junior and his mate made extra sure that I was really leaving and followed me:

Squeak and Pollux were seen with their two, almost grown, chicks.  But, I think Squeak quickly left, possibly to attend the third chick in another location.

Everyone's having babies.  Here are the two heron babies.  I don't know where there parents are.  I think they're going to fledge within the next week or two:

The male and female osprey are in the nest, but the male won't share the fish he caught.

The five ducklings are still five, but one I think one might not be feeling very well.  Also, one duckling was being extremely disobedient and got a verbal thrashing from mom.  They are getting pretty good feathers now.  I did not see them later.  

Peep, peep, peep, peep!

I think this is Indy:

Neo is going through a big growth spurt.  When I first saw him, I thought he was a small female adult duck:

Unfortunately, my camera battery died, so I couldn't get the comparison shot of the two older ducklings that are feathered out about the same amount.   I also didn't see the mom of one or the mom of two today, either.

Hatchling coot with parent:

Feeding the baby algae:

 I still haven't found out what happened to the male gadwall, but I think he might have been the coyote victim as most of the other ducks have been accounted for.  However, his favorite female is also missing, so he may have just flown off.  Another duck that is missing is Quacker, the flying Cayuga duck.

Killdeer story

Today, I saw lots of killdeer out and about.  Many of them were new ones I've never seen before.  The first ones I saw were Squeak and Pollux, but I didn't take any photos of them.  I went on and found two more whom, I thought were the two that stay in one of the ballfields where one looks like Secret's son.  Nope.  To my surprise, as I began to photograph the bird, he began to chirp and jump around in a manner that only Killer Junior could do.

Killer Junior

And, just a little ways away, there was a female!  At first, I thought, this can't be Miracle because she looks perfect.  Then, when I looked closely at the photo, I could see a small flap of skin just under her eye going to just behind it.  It's barely noticeable.  I think this is, indeed, the formally bald killdeer chick.  The photo is a bit fuzzy, I'll try to get a better one, later:

Miracle now

Here she is at about three weeks old:

Miracle last year

When I came back to the ballfields, I found this female whom I, at first, thought was Shy and her mate. Nope, it's an entirely new female I haven't seen before.  She looks a lot like Shy, though.  Perhaps she's Shy's other chick.  I also thought I heard a chick peeping nearby.

Here is the male that was with her.  I couldn't get an ID on him at all:

I thought I was taking a photo of Junior's mate.  He was off fighting with another male.  But, no, this is yet another female I have never seen before.  I found Junior's mate on the other side of the lake where she normally is.  I guess another couple has come to visit them.  I didn't notice the fishing line in the front of the photo.  :(

Bob2 has been hanging around lately.  Here she is feeding in an unusual location.  It's good to see her.

The long-billed dowitcher is still hanging around.  I have no idea what it was eating, but it was eating something.  I think it's getting juvenile quagga mussels

Finally, this poor female duck (the beige one), has been hurt by over-breeding.  It looks like her foot and hip is hurting.  I am trying to get her some help, but I don't know if it will be possible.

Junior is happy

Junior the killdeer is happy because his mate is with him now.

Junior doing a nest scrape

Junior's mate

I think the next photo is of George III who was hanging out with another female whom, I think, was George's mate, Martha.  He seemed really happy to have her around.  I couldn't get a decent photo of her.

Baby Bob is molting and you can see her spots starting to come through.

Here she is from the back:

This black-crowned night heron is in the middle of a molt, too.

I think the gull on the right is the sick gull from a few weeks ago.  Seems a bit better now.

Bossy duck is doing well, but the ring seems to be getting tighter on him.  I think he's grown a little.

Quacker was being really friendly, but she kept running around in the parking lot getting chased by kids and almost getting hit by cars.  She was just hungry and looking for a handout..

Big Mama Cooper's hawk, dead?

As I drove towards the lake entrance, I saw a dead bird on the road, perhaps two.  I thought it might be Big Mama Cooper, but didn't think it had any sign of barring on its feathers, so I wasn't sure.  The road was busy, so I couldn't get out and check.  I didn't hear or see Big Mama at all today and I almost always, at least, hear her as she's got a nest in George's territory and is always calling for her mate.  When I left, I drove by slower and looked and I could see lots of barring on the wings and what looked like a long (folded) tail and a reddish-tan lower belly.  I couldn't see the chest.  Apparently, the bird had flew head-on into a passing car while chasing what I think was a dove or pigeon whom I think was the other bird (it was gone when I passed by the second time).  I think the dead bird might be her as I've seen her fly low across this road at this spot while chasing birds.  I will keep an eye out for her to see if she is really gone or not.  It could have been the local red-shouldered hawk as well, whom I also didn't see at all today.

George's grandchildren

I think I may have discovered more of killdeer George's grandchildren at Lake Murray. Here's a female that is hanging around with Junior. She's either his daughter (see the family resemblance) or she's looking for a mate. A similar-looking male was also seen in the area, before. Junior doesn't show any sign of chasing the male off or flirting with the female. Both look to be about 6 to 8 weeks old.

Georgina

Also, here's one of Killer's offspring. He was chased around by a Cooper's hawk this morning for a long time, but luckily he was a little too fast for the hawk. I was so scared for him.

Killer Jr. (almost became hawk food today)

Kingbirds came and chased off the hawk. When the hawk came back, chasing a dove, the kingbirds went after him again. I think it's Big Mama's mate who usually prefers squirrels over birds. I'm guessing their chicks are getting ready to fledge as the parents seem to be hunting more desperately than before. Bad time for me to watch the birds because the hawks go after all the birds I like.

Cassin's kingbird

Here's some pictures of ducklings:

Boat dock ducklings, now 10 weeks old:

Pepper

Peaches and the girls

More wood ducklings:


Ducky's ducklings:




Bossy ducklings:



A lone, weak duckling and mama:



And, some gadwall-mallard hybrid ducklings:

Early photo of "Junior" (Little Male)

Since it's been a long time since I first started observing the killdeer at Lake Murray and Padre Point, I started looking back at the first photos I took way back in April of the "Little Male" who was chasing around an invading couple on Padre Point. Well, from reviewing the photos, the "invading couple" is now determined to be George and Martha, possibly his parents. Mary may be either Junior's sister or a second mate to George. She visits periodically and neither George or Junior have ever shown any interest in mating with her even though Junior was available as a mate and ended up choosing another female.

So, here's an early photo of "Junior" or the "Little Male" taken with my 50mm at an estimated six to seven weeks of age. It's small because I was using a wide angle and had to crop it down.

Even at an early age, Junior (Little Male) engaged in territorial defense

Junior has been "missing" since July 4th after mating and leaving. His chicks are due to hatch next week.