Famosa Slough and Killdeer Land

Famosa Slough is a great place to see a variety of birds and even a few uncommon or rare birds. It's right there in the middle of Point Loma, so you don't have to drive far to see them.

First, a bunch of dowitchers flying away. There's always dowitchers flying around there. I believe these are short-billed dowitchers. However, your eBird list will be flagged if you identify them as such as they're very hard to tell apart from the long-billed dowitchers in winter.

A pair of mourning doves on a branch. The dove at the top eventually walked down and stroked the back of the other dove before pecking him to move.

Stilts, avocets, willets and yellowlegs:

One of the stilts:

Blue-winged teal:

American wigeon:

Famosa Slough is basically killdeer land in winter. There were probably a few hundred of them in there, watching me.

Borrego Springs Swainson's Hawks

So, I went down to see the Swainson's hawks in Borrego Springs yesterday because I couldn't do it last year. I guess at some point before, someone counted over a thousand hawks! I only saw a couple hundred. I was there early in the morning, but did not stick around after they started kettling.

They were all on the ground off of Borrego Springs Road near Henderson Canyon Road looking for caterpillars when I got there.

Some where out flying around, so I was able to get a couple of shots:

They started kettling around 10 a.m. near Henderson and Peg Leg. I guess they migrate all the way from South America to near the arctic and like to pass through here.

They were looking for these guys. I think this is a photo of a sphinx moth caterpillar. I think the sphinx moth is the one that's also known as the hummingbird moth. 

The caterpillars like to eat these things:

Creosote in bloom:

Sand verbena with what I think is dune evening primrose. I don't know what those little white flowers are called.

Here are some more of the little white flower. I think they might be snowball sand verbena.

 I think this might be the regular kind of evening primrose:

A shot of the entire valley.

I haven't been taking many pictures of the animal around Lake Murray lately. No. 6 and Miss Skeeter decided to go way over to where Mr. Squeaky got killed by the coyotes. They were there for about a week when No. 6 was seen alone in another area of the lake. I could not find Miss Skeeter for well over a week and thought that she might have been killed by the coyotes, too. However, I finally found her not far from where No. 6 and two other white pekins were hanging out..

In this photo, taken before she disappeared, you can clearly see the fishing line around her leg:

This next time I saw her, I couldn't see the line very much, though she was still limping. I think she likes to play with it and wrap and unwrap it around her leg. She's not hurt here, she's trying to dig under the leaf litter and decided to lie down.

Handsome No. 6:

There's a new dumped duck that was dropped off a week or so ago. He looks a lot like Dougie who was pekin and another breed.

I saw a pretty canvasback female back in February:

There hasn't been many killdeer lately. Mostly, I've been seeing one pair: a large female and a skinny male much like George and Martha. I also think I've seen Killer and Dee now and then.

The fat sandpiper continued to stick around and she lost quite a bit of weight:

I also came across this ring-billed gull with actual rings on its legs. Unfortunately, I could not read the USFWS band number:

Surprise December Ducklings

Nothing much has been going on at Lake Murray for the last few weeks except for a surprise batch of December ducklings. The mother was first spotted with four, but by the time I saw them, there were only three left. Within a few days, it appears that the gulls got all of them or they were stolen by people. A gull was spotted with one a couple of days after I took these photos. There were also reports of them running up to people. When the mother saw me one day, she acted like she thought I had one of them, so I think one or two may have been kidnapped.

At first, I thought the mother was an elderly duck with a hormone problem. However, when I look at this next picture, I notice she looks a lot like Miss Friendly, a five month old female. Miss Friendly was the super-friendly duckling that loved to follow people around. It appears to be a genetic trait as these ducklings had the same personality.

Also this month, four runner ducks were dumped, one of which has a broken wing. They are two males and two females, it appears.

They found their way over to Sissy and Pumpkin who have adopted them. They are now bonded to the two older buff ducks and hate to be too far away from them.

The killdeer have been super friendly. I've seen Firecracker hanging out in her old hangout where she was raised. Her brother, Killer and his mate, Dee have also been seen hanging out in the same spot. All of these killdeer, including Killer and Dee in the next photo, are now considered nearly elderly for killdeer who usually live about nine or ten years at the most. They are about 5.5 years old.

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.

Killdeer shocked at egret's breakfast and baby updates

The killdeer above, at Lake Murray, was extremely upset after he flew up to check me out yesterday. He didn't notice the great egret when he first arrived, but after a few seconds, I could hear an angry trill. I don't know if he was trilling at me or at the heron who was noshing on a squirrel it had just drowned. Later, the egret had a live squirrel and swallowed it whole before the squirrel was dead. Then, the egret had that look that one gets when they've eaten too much. I hope those two squirrels meant that he was done eating for the day.

Even though those two squirrels died a horrible death and will never experience life again, it doesn't mean that there will be a squirrel shortage. For those who like the squirrels, you can rest assured that plenty of babies are growing up to replace those adults. And, these babies are super quick, too.

There are at least two baby osprey in the osprey nest and they're almost ready to go. I think this is mom waiting for dad to get home with breakfast in the morning:

This California quail is one of at least three quails making a lot of noise. I love to hear the sounds of quail. Most of the quail live in Coyoteland. Even though coyote do eat quail, they also eat a lot of the things that eat quail and quail babies. So, I guess the quail feel it's worth the risk living with the canines:

Pied-billed grebe babies making lots of noise, demanding to be fed:

Even though Peaches and the other mother lost all their babies, Miss Whiteear was seen across the lake with three bitties of her own. She was being harassed by the males, but seemed attentive to her youngins. A heron was over there looking for them, but she was keeping her babies moving and hidden under the cover.

The baby geese are doing well despite the brown grass:

This female domestic duck was dumped about a month ago. She's in poor condition, probably from not being cared for properly. I couldn't get a photo of her until now. She looks a lot like Ducky Ducky who passed away a few months ago:

Mr. Squeaky is still having trouble with his eyes. Otherwise, all the male Pekins are looking very healthy.