Loose ducklings!

Like last year, there are a bunch of loose ducklings peeping around, losing their moms and moms who can't seem to keep them in control. I think it's because all the inexperienced moms are hatching their first ever brood right now. I hope they get things right for the duckling's sake. I almost saw a fish get one of them.



I saw Peaches' ducklings early in the morning, but not later. It is a warm day, they could be spending time in the shade. Several new drakes were seen around the boat dock and that may also be why. I'm glad they weren't there because there was a mom and child feeding the ducks and the child was chasing them all over! He could have hurt the little ducklings. Anyway, here are some pictures:

The pale duckling

Pepper

Nap time!

Caramel was with her ducklings, too. They're a little younger than Peaches':





Pollux, the killdeer chick made his fuzzy debut yesterday. He still has a lot of down on him, especially around the head and chest area. I also got photos of Castor and Squiggy. I thought I got a photo of Spike, too, but after looking at the photos, I didn't see any of him. He likes to fly all over the place and is definitely the leader of all the chicks. When he's gone, Squiggy takes over.

Pollux

Squiggy

Castor (reminds me a lot of Tiny)

Big sister Shy was looking after all of them.

George spends the afternoon with his sons

George and Martha's Family

George was seen in his feeding area at Lake Murray, San Diego, with his two sons. It's amazing how much bigger Tiny is than his dad and how much weight George has lost. All three seemed to get along, though sometimes Tiny would get a little aggressive with his dad and brother, but his dad reminded him of who the boss of the territory was whenever Tiny acted out. Killer stayed off by himself, but not totally. Whenever he flew close to Tiny and George, both killdeer would do territorial calls, but then calm down after a few minutes. Neither juvenile made any aggressive move towards their dad and often chirped at him when they got nervous. Eventually, Killer went off on his own and Tiny and his dad continued feeding together.

Tiny

His dad, George, not seen for a long time

Killer, keeping his distance

Ballfield Killdeer:

Many of the ballfield killdeer were gone save for three. One was an unknown female that may have been the M6 mom all alone. Shy was in another field with an unknown killdeer, possibly a male. The other killdeer didn't look like her dad. Both kept their distance from each other and didn't seem to want to get too close to the other.

Shy, without her dad for the first time I've ever seen

This killdeer seems protective of Shy, but keeps his distance. Don't know who it is, possibly her brother, Secret

Also seen:

Since it was mid to late afternoon, many of the birds were in hiding. Children often come and throw rocks in the lake or chase the birds around and many don't want to deal with that. The mornings have been foggy and I wanted to get shots of birds in the afternoon sun. But, very few of them were out. Even the ducks were hiding.

Tiny becomes a "ballfield killdeer"

Tiny has made himself at home in the ballfield

Tiny, one of George's 2 month old chicks, seems to be comfortable in the Lake Murray ballfields and was hanging around with Secret, Digger, an unknown young male and his look-a-like today. In another field, Shy, her dad and the "baby" killdeer were hanging out together. Shy and Digger have been watching Tiny and the other juvenile males with interest.

Shy hangs out with dad and watches the teenage "boys"

Two adults were in the large field, Field #7, all alone, keeping an eye out for hawks. The male Cooper's hawk was across the lake in George's territory trying to catch pigeons and terrorizing the ducks. George and the rest of his family were not seen even though the water levels have gone back down. I suspect that's because he's watching over young chicks. It's unknown what the role of his two last "teenage" chicks (Firecracker and Killer) are playing regarding the new babies (if any).

Tiny's a bit of a bully, it seems, and often starts fights. Secret seems to be his main target, though other juvenile males will take part. But, Secret is not a sissy and often fights back.

Secret , I think (left) and Tiny (right)

Challenge displays between Tiny and Secret

"Ow!" Tiny gets bit

Most of it is play much in the way that colts and bachelor stallions play-fight between each other. It's good preparation for adulthood.

In other lake news, there was some kind of fire in the reeds between the 1.75 and 2 mile mark along the walking path. It's a weird spot as it's not a popular fishing area and the fire seemed to have started near the road. I don't know any of the particulars about it such as when it started or how, but it seems odd. I hope it's just an isolated incident and not the start of a trend, especially as the season gets dry. Birds have sensitive lungs and breathing passages and fires in the area would devastate many of them.

Fire damage to reeds

Top of the reeds burned due to fire

I'm glad there are no baby coots or ducklings right now. The song sparrows seem to actually like hanging around the burnt reeds, I hope they and the marsh wrens didn't have any nests in there. The burned plants have a really sweet smell like someone is barbecuing with mesquite.

Argument at the lake

Ballfield killdeer:

"Hey, I was eating there!" says the one on the right

OK, it wasn't really an argument, but rather three juvenile males fooling around. I originally thought it was a juvenile male attacking Shy and her dad defending her, but after looking at the photos, I could tell it was three male juveniles, including the Tiny look-a-like and the curious very young male (smallest of the three). The curious one was attacked by a slightly older male, possibly "Secret" and the bigger of the three came to his defense. They postured and called to each other while the smallest one moved away. Then, the two older males moved out of the ballfield and play-fought in an open grassy area.

"Fight, fight, fight!" Says the one on the right

The curious one stayed behind and went really close to an open gate. I think he is very interested in what people were doing. At one time, when I didn't have my camera, I got him to come really close to me. I went back to get my camera and someone else came on the field and he got too nervous. He moved away from me and didn't come back. I was glad that he moved away from the gate as I was afraid he was going to get too friendly with people. Not everyone likes killdeer or will be as kind to them as me, so I didn't want him to be too interested in getting near humans. Plus, some people let their dogs run around off leash outside the fields and I want him to be weary of that, too.

"Hmmm, what's going on here?" Curious young male

I saw this beautiful female in another field.

Pretty female

No one is using the one large eastern ballfield anymore. I thought it was because of the construction, but I think it might be because of hawks or a falcon scare. They're used to the hawk, but a falcon scares the wits out of them. They may be back there, later, if no hawks or falcons are seen in the area.

George and Martha's Family

Since I came in the late afternoon, I did not see any of George and Martha's family. It's not unusual for that time of day during the last month of two to not see them. They've been staying in the safe area a lot and I don't see them very much. If the lake level gets lower, George and Martha may come back to forage in Alvarado Bay.