All killdeers! My favorite bird.

Killdeer are my favorite birds.  :)

Today, I saw a family of five killdeer flying around near Padre Point at Lake Murray.  I think it might have been George, his babies and maybe a new mate.  I did see some "large, round" killdeer of which one might be Martha, but I'm not sure.  Or, it might not have been George at all.

Here's one of the daughters.  She looks a lot like George.  I think I had one picture of George with her, but it was blurry.

This is the male killdeer that has taken over Padre Point and was challenging George.  I think he might have been interested in George's daughters, though.  He's very young, probably three months old and could be related to George or, perhaps, Georgina and Spike.  He yells at all humans just like Junior did.

On the other side of the lake, I found Miracle all alone.  It's not the first time she's been there all alone, but I worry about her mate, Killer Junior, because I think he's the one with the broken leg.  He might be taking care of their three grown chicks:

Killer was also there and was with a female that was not Dee.  I don't know who she is, but they seemed to know each other:

That's the female in front with Killer in the background.  Perhaps she's a daughter since I know Dee is still his mate and he hasn't taken a new one:

2 Ducklings Still Hanging On

Yellow-cheek's two ducklings are still hanging on.  I was a bit worried because I saw a gull eating one, possibly two ducklings and thought these were the ones they were eating.  But, I think what they were eating was the body of the missing yellow duckling who was weak and possibly drowned 10 days ago.  The water department has lowered the lake's water level by several feet within the last few days and that may have exposed the duckling's body.

But, these two are OK and very hard to get a photo of.  First of all, the mom is extremely bothered and wary of human beings, so she doesn't let me get too close.  As soon as too many people appear in the morning, she is quick to move her ducklings out of the area.

Secondly, as seen in the photo below, the two ducklings blend in extremely well, especially on an early cloudy morning.  They are starting to get their feathers and are at least 16 days old now, very small for their age.  They are still vulnerable to gulls, especially inexperienced ones, but are pretty much out of their swallowing range.

This little youngster may have been the Memorial Day single duckling.  She was last seen swimming into the sunset with her mom in early June.  She's still extremely small, but very bossy and I think she can take care of herself.  The new Pekins made sure to poke at her.

Sister duck was back in the canal sans her sister:

This young, very healthy, duck reminded me of Neo and Indy, but I think he's an adult.  He may be one of the two ducklings that were hatched about a week after Sister Duck or might even be Sister Duck's lost brother.

This Bewick's wren didn't seem to mind me at all and even sang a song for me.  Usually, they just jump around and scold me when I walk by.

The bald juvenile gull may actually be a herring gull and not a western gull.  I saw that because of the white borders of his back and wing feathers.  While juvenile western gulls also have a white border around their same feathers, it's less distinct and faded looking.

*Update*: Found out that this is either a juvenile California gull (because of the feather patterns) or it may, indeed be a western gull.  But, it is NOT an herring gull, which would be rare for this area this time of year.

He has grown the feathers back on his forehead, but not his face:

He was swimming around close to where I think the ducklings were hiding, but I don't think he found them.

Two very young juvenile killdeer were seen in Junior's territory near where his nest was.  They look to be about the age Junior's chicks would be, about 8 weeks old.  The one that looked like Tiny did when he was about 7 weeks old, that I saw a few days ago, may also be one of  Junior's chicks.

Young male

Young female

Good news about the fallen electrical wires.  They were fixed and Pollux, the Giant killdeer and Pollux's son were all play-fighting in the field.  I think Smudge and Peanut were over by the lakeshore feasting on bugs.  I also think I might have found where Miracle, Killer Jr. and their baby chick are hanging out, but can't access that area.

Brown pelican and Smudge and Peanut

Not much to report on today.  The juvenile brown pelican came down in the middle of a flock of coots and ate something.  I suspect it was a fish because it went down really fast.  The baby coot in that area was seen afterward, doing fine.  He's one of the few baby coots that have actually made it to almost 3 months old.

Brown pelicans are almost unheard of at Lake Murray, but, this year, many juvenile brown pelicans have been seen inland in their search for food.  No sign of the adult that accompanied him and his sibling there.  (His sibling died soon after arriving).

I also saw what I think was Smudge and her sister Peanut, together.  A male, either their dad or that big male in the area, was kill-deeting to them from across the little cove.

Peanut

Smudge

Smudge

Fish Food Mama's ducklings go independent

I got to the lake early in the morning and, at first, I didn't see Peaches at all and that's a good sign.  The fact that she wasn't there meant that, maybe, her last duckling is still alive.  An hour later, I saw, from far away, Peaches and her last duckling.  They had survived the night.  The gulls were circling, but it looked like Peaches was heading to a safer area.  However, she seemed really reluctant and hesitant and kept turning around to go back.

But, alas, an hour and a half after that, the last duckling was gone.  Peaches was walking around, doing "follow me" calls very loudly.  She was even chasing drakes and ducks away like she was protecting something.  She wasn't searching for the ducklings and seemed to know she didn't have any, but her broody hormones are still telling her to act like she does.

Here she is giving her younger sister a dirty look.  A little coot, abandoned by his parents, seemed to want to get her attention and called for her.  Too bad she didn't notice because, at this time, I think she would mother any small duckling or baby waterfowl that came her way.

I think she was really lonely and wanted to be with her family.  Her best sister friend, Caramel, died early in the nesting season.  Butterscotch had her ducklings over a month ago and I think she lost all of hers, too, but she may have managed to keep one of them.  So, she didn't have any support and really wanted to be with her mom, siblings, and offspring from last year.

However, Peaches's mother, Fish Food Mama, was seen without any of her older ducklings this morning.  But, that's fairly normal as they are 2.5 months old and are pretty independent.  They all get together to nap, but then do their own thing when awake.  Fish Food Mama was the only mother duck who managed to keep all or most of her babies this year and raise them to flying age.  I believe it is because of her timing and the fact that she's one of the oldest successful breeding hens at the lake with at least three broods, that I know of, under her belt.

I think this might be Indy, he was hanging out with Neo:

Here is one of Indy's three brothers, he looks a lot like his mom:

He was hanging out near Neo who is extremely friendly with people.  He will stand at your feet and wait, patiently, for you to feed him. He's also a pretty good flier, too.

Here is a duck that always makes me feel good when I see her, Hurt Wing.  Now, she's got a hurt foot and hip, too, but she still keeps plugging along.  I am extremely surprised that she has lived as long as she has with all of her issues.  She was hanging amongst the big drakes that would probably kill her if they tried to mate with her, but they weren't bothering her at the time.  Hopefully, she got away from them if they decided to do something.

I saw her run with her hurt foot and hip and she's very zippy.  She's amazing.

Another happy sight:  Baby quail, half grown!  I found a whole bunch of them today with their dad (plus a dove).

And, of course, I had to go see baby Miracle who always makes me feel good.  But, today's visit was marred by a Cooper's hawk attack soon after I took these photos.  Mom and dad really did a great job mobbing and attacking the hawk.  So, she was OK, but as I was taking pictures of the baby quail, I could hear the parents screaming again and I hope it wasn't another attack. It didn't last long which makes me think that it was just something they saw briefly.

Baby Miracle is over two weeks old now and actually getting her feathers in.  She's grown quite a bit, too.  And, she's learned a little bit about being wary of predators because she will hide when she first sees something that makes her nervous.

Yesterday, a man released a female mallard and her brood of 8 ducklings at the lake whom, he said, had wandered into his yard.  They all seem to be in good shape and are about Neo and Fish Food Mama's ducklings' age.  I think Fish Food Mama's family might intermix with them.  Yesterday, they all scattered, so I couldn't tell who's who.  But, they like to rest together in the place they were first released.  I will try to get a photo of them.

Peaches and a killdeer chick

I think the duck in the photo above might be Peaches or her daughter.  She has 7 little ducklings on this hot day.  Peaches is the mother of the ducklings that lived under the boat dock last year.  She was not too far away from the docks in this photo.  It's really late in the season for ducklings right now.  But, there is an advantage.  For one, the temperatures are higher, so there's less chance of hypothermia, but that might be a downfall because the ducklings can't regulate their temperatures either way.  Also, the herons are pretty much done with their chicks, so there are less of them around.  And, there are even fewer gulls right now, too.  The pelicans are still a threat, but they weren't around today.

I found the baby killdeer in the ballfields, she was pretty far away for me to take photos of her.  She's beginning to grow now.

There were a lot of starlings and blackbirds all around her, but they didn't attack or bother her or her parents.

Here she is passing by her dad:

The two dumped Pekin ducklings were nowhere to be found.  I'm hoping that they got picked up and taken away and that a predator didn't get them.  I will check, tomorrow, to see if they're still there or if they were just hiding from the sun today.

Happy 4th! And, killdeer chicks and willets.

Little Miracle

Today is the 4th of July at Lake Murray and, usually, they have a big music fest and fireworks on this day.  However, this year, the entire event has been canceled.  An environmental group's lawyer is forcing venues that have fireworks to get an environmental impact report and other permits before they hold more fireworks shows.  Unfortunately, the people running the show and the Friends of Lake Murray feel that the fees are too large for them to afford, so they have canceled the entire event including the Music Fest and Fun Runs.  They are hoping to hold the event next year.  Last year, the Music Fest was canceled due to lack of funds.

I have attended just about every Lake Murray Fest there since 1994 except for a few around 1999-2002, I think (They used to be held in June in the beginning).  I stopped going to the fireworks in 2008 because it just got too crowded with rude people and I couldn't enjoy it.

In the meantime, I found Miracle and one of her chicks running around right exactly where they usually set up the fireworks, yesterday.  In normal years,  July 3rd, this area is closed off to the public and all the pyrotechnics are set up for the fourth.  So, I was lucky to see them this year.  Usually, I don't see them in this area this time of year.

I only saw the one chick, but I think the other chick was hiding.  There were grackles everywhere and the chick even ran up close to them, but they didn't bother her.

Here is one with Miracle, her mom, in the background.

She ran across the road a few times, too!  I tried to watch and make sure she didn't get run over by bikes or the worker's trucks, but decided to leave because I think I was making things worse.  Plus, there was a Cooper's hawk nearby and every time I was there, the parents would start doing calls that the hawk could hone in on.

I sure hope she made it back to the lakeshore OK and that no one bothered her yesterday or today.

Nice and secure under Dad's wing:

Someone thought they could sneak in a couple of rouens there.  These are are newest dumped domestic ducks.  I worry about the female because she can't fly.  Hopefully, her boy will protect her:

We had an unexpected visitor today, a willet:

He seemed very sad, I think he was lost.  He has most of his breeding plumage.  They're supposed to breed up around Montana, Alberta, or Idaho this time of year.

Fish Food Mama's ducklings are two months old now and getting more independent.  However, I think Indy still loves his mama and sticks close to her.

The other four ducklings went off on their own, here is one in the background.   They all got together again, eventually.

They're starting to get their speculum and flying feathers now.  They should be flying in a few weeks.

No sign of the mom who had only four ducklings.  Not only are ducklings having a hard time surviving, but we have lost a good number of coots and baby grebes, too.  I suspect gulls and herons for most of those being missing, but also large fish.  I've been seeing a lot of large bass lately.

Miracle and Killer Jr.'s chicks

When I visited one of the ballfields today, I saw a killdeer doing a broken wing act.  I thought it would be strange for Pollux to be doing a broken wing act when his chicks were full grown.  But, it wasn't Pollux, I think it was Miracle!

I didn't see any chicks when I first passed through, probably because the sprinklers were going.  But, I could hear her "talking" to them.  Later, when I came back, I found two little chicks and dad was "patrolling" an area near some brush, so I think there was at least one or two more in there.  They were so tiny!  In the distance, they look like little balls of fluff:

Here is mom with the two chicks.  The gate was locked, so I couldn't get into the field.  Even if I could, I wouldn't be able to get a great shot because all the birds would have scattered and hid.

I think I saw a boy and a girl chick, but I'm not sure as I couldn't get too close:

In other news, that cute young duck was seen being cute and friendly:

Bossy Mama is down to her last duckling, now about 8 days old:

I still only see one coot chick from the three that I saw earlier.  There was a big turtle nearby, too:

These two coot chicks from the other side of the lake are growing very fast.

I also got a photo of a Clark's grebe.  There were several Clark's grebe and some western grebes there today.

The two brown pelicans are still there.  Fish Food Mama still has her five ducklings.  No sign of the eight ducklings I saw a few days ago.  Hurt wing is still limping very badly, but alive and hungry!  The two sister ducks are also doing well.  I think Neo is doing fine, too, but he is blending in with the other drakes going through eclipse, so I can't pick him out.