RIP ducklings (Illness suspected)

When I first arrived, I was absolutely shocked to see that Fish Food Mama had only one duckling left.  At first glance, he appeared to be fairly healthy.  Except, I did notice that he had no interest in eating.  Mama took him to some slimy rocks with yummy algae and bugs and made exaggerated feeding motions, but all the duckling wanted to do was hide.  Mama was acting strange, too, constantly quacking and making faces at me to tell me to back off even when I wasn't any closer than I usually am.

When I got home and looked at the photos, I could see that the duckling wasn't looking healthy at all.

Something was wrong with his face and eyes, it was almost as if he had a hard time keeping his eyes open.

I noticed, in several photos, that he swam with his eyes constantly closed like the other one that was sick before.  Here, he swam up to Mama, bumped into her, and grabbed onto some of her feathers.  This may have been a sign of co-ordination problems like the other one had on Wednesday.

At one time, Mama flew away, abandoning her duckling and began flirting with the boys on the other side of the parking lot.  But, her duckling began to scream for her and she returned.  However, later in the day, Mama was duckling-less and hanging out with the boys.  She seemed to be acting normal, though I could hear a warning quack come out of her when gulls flew close by.  Before I saw the photos of the last duckling, I was mad at Mama for abandoning her baby and possibly not doing enough to protect the others, but now I know what happened was beyond her control.

If it was illness, I hope it's not something contagious and makes Mama or any of the other ducks sick, too.  I am hoping that Mama will have another brood or two next year.

In better news, the young duck on the right of these four is, most likely, the son of Snowy and his mate.  Snowy's mate had eight ducklings this year, was last seen with four and of that four at least one was known to have been caught by a predator.  I am not sure if any of the other ducks in this group are related to him.

Here he is in the afternoon.  That duck in the background is, I think, one of Brown Mama's ducklings.  I think he may have two sisters, or Fish Food Mama's two young daughters like hanging out with him.

And, a shot of the dad of the three black ducklings.  I am worried that he won't be around next spring to make more of them because he's getting old.  They were my favorite, I just loved seeing them and want to see more of that color.

And, the crested and buff duck:

And, Donald, the oldest Pekin at the lake.

Skimmers, godwits and ducks

Skimmers

Here are some photos of shorebirds I saw in the San Diego River channel on August 23rd in the morning.

I thought this was funny. I think this guy was fishing for mussels or something like that. All those egrets, plus some willets and gulls, were watching, very closely, what he was doing.



Skimmers:



Godwits and skimmers:


There was also a big flock of sandpipers and I saw one juvenile spotted sandpiper. Also, lots and lots of cormorants and a few herons, too.

Back at the lake, nothing new is happening. The two ducklings that were being pelted with rocks were OK, but they still haven't learned to stay away from people with rocks. There were some little kids throwing pebbles, but didn't hurt them. The thing that gets me is how some parents pretty much condone them doing it and will not stop or take the child away once they start throwing things at the animals.

Anyway, here are a few photos of them. They are so friendly and love to follow me around:






Bossy Duckling seems to be feeling better and is changing into his big boy colors.



Pepper says hi, too. He's not very friendly with me right now for some reason and moves away if I approach. Such as change from when he was little and would run up to me:



Doodle says "Leave me alone, I'm tired". He showed his age today and was really lethargic.



One of the baby wood ducks was seen by himself:



And, the two baby coots are still around:

A day made for ducks

While this morning was really nice, the afternoon turned very rainy and not that many people came to the lake, so all the duckies were very hungry and came running up to me. But, I forgot to bring food.

Tom was there as was Curly. Curly got mad that I was paying so much attention to Tom that he jumped on Tom's back and nipped his tail. It was funny to see, but Curly is tough! Later, Tom went and rooted around in the grass before going back out to the parking lot. Lately, he's been laying around in the parking lot much of the time. I don't know why.



Here's a new duck, she's a gadwall-mallard hybrid:



This is her with a male that loves her a lot:



Lots of wood ducks today:

Got anything good to eat?

I think Ducky's girlfriend is being too flirty with other males. Poor Ducky was chased away by the older males who challenged each other and were encouraged by head bobbing from the female:



Big Daddy was there:



As was his daughter and her mate:



Big Daddy2 and the chocolate ducks:



And, finally, Cinnamon and one of her boyfriends:

All ducks, no killdeer (and one sandpiper)

No killdeer were spotted at all today at Lake Murray, but at least two or three were heard beyond the fence when a night heron flew past them. I think I also heard some at another location when someone walked their dog too close to the shoreline. The water levels were higher today.

However, I did see my spotted sandpiper friend, though only for a few minutes:



Ducky gets interested in girls:

I think this is Ducky who is starting to fight with his friend over females, specifically his friend's sister. Ducky's friend really gave it to him hard, but both are juvenile and learning how the process goes, so no one was hurt. Other young females were also interesting to him, too. He checked out everyone.

Ooo, la la! Hello Ladies!

Gotta look good for the girls! Here's Ducky preening his new flight feathers:



Other duck news:

This is Curly with a deformed bill. Curly does everything a normal duck does, even preen and fight. He has a disadvantage when it comes to feeding on his natural food, but he does OK. Bill said there were two Curlies at the lake, but I've only ever seen one. It's possible the other one may have died from old age or moved on somewhere else.



I also saw a northern Pintail, very pretty:



And, here's the white mallard! If you can catch him and keep him confined, you can take him home. He's still pretty tame, but starting to get dirty.