Hooded oriole nests and other birds

Today, I discovered at least two hooded oriole nests at the lake.  I've been passing by this one all summer and watching the male be aggressive towards other birds, but never saw this nest until today.  The only reason why I saw it was because the almost-grown babies were so loud and boisterous.

While I was there, the mom came and fed the babies, but I don't see an opening.  It almost appears as if she fed them through the nest.  The opening is supposed to be at the top of the nest, but I didn't see her go near there.  This reminds me of a weaver bird nest.    I couldn't get a photo of mom feeding them.   I left and came back a little later and dad was in the area. He was only tolerant of me being there for a minute, then got upset, so I left.

I don't like to "park" myself at nests like I've seen some people do just to get a photo.  I try to only stay a short time, then leave.  I don't want to do anything that would draw attention to the nest and "parking" at a nest site, in plain view, puts the nestlings at risk of being noticed by predators.

Mama osprey was up on a branch watching the fish jumping around in the water.  There were some fishermen in a boat "pushing" the fish and causing them to come to the surface a little more.

I only see the mom hanging around, no sign of her mate.  The two babies had a bad fate.  One couldn't fly and is doing OK in a wildlife rehabilitation center.  The other had to be euthanized due to a severe fishing line injury.

Here's a photo of two of the three baby coots who seem to be getting along better nowadays.  The other one was in a different spot nearby.  I think that one is the youngest and still being fed by his parents.

On the other side of the lake, I met someone from Project Wildlife who was releasing a couple of ducklings back to the lake.  The first ducks, a regular-sized mallard looked around for a few minutes and took off quickly.  It got chased around by a coot a bit, but he quickly hid, only the sounds of his little feet paddling could be heard until he found a safe spot.  The second duck was a hybrid that looked a lot like Cinnamon!

Unfortunately, she kept following people around, so she was caught and taken back home and will be released at a farm, instead.  Though she and the other duckling were handled and treated the same way, she has too much domestic duck in her and would rather be with people.  This is a reminder not to dump domestic ducks in a wild area as they create these hybrids who have a slim chance of survival and a shortened lifespan.

Lesser goldfinches and sick ducks

Early Christmas morning brought lesser goldfinches.  This male wasn't afraid of me at all:

These females weren't afraid of me either, until the sunshade on my camera fell off and they flew away, but the male stayed and called for them.

This duck has a very cute bill.  I've never seen a bill marked like that.  I think she's a young duck.  I was sitting down and she walked right behind me and chattered away.

For the last few days, I've been getting help for this crested pekin female.  I was told she might have ascites, or water on the belly.  The first day I saw her in trouble, she was very sleepy and looked sick.

When I saw her yesterday, she looked a bit better, but was still struggling.  I did see her run out of the water when someone brought some food.  However, someone said she suddenly started limping and then collapsed on her belly and scooted herself back into the water.  When I saw her, she was acting like something was wrong with her legs, but got better as she continued swimming.  She also put her wings and tail back into normal position for a moment.

If it's ascites, she will NOT get better and will die within days.  If it is not, then I don't know.

Update:  It took me a while to get some help for her, but she was rescued on 12/29!  She is said to be extremely thin, but other than something being wrong with her leg, she seems to be OK.

Across the lake from that duck, I thought that this female on the left had a bad bumble on her foot.  If she does, she may also die from that and, perhaps, infect the other ducks.  That's her mate on the right:

Someone said that might not be a bumble, but a callous.  It's making her limp, but she seems to be a very happy girl and in love with her mate.

I'm sad to report that this small duck who has been at the lake for several years is either sick or injured.  He was fine a week or two ago.  He is acting normally, but is all hunched over.  He might have been attacked by a larger duck or even a predator.  I don't know how old he is, but he might recover.  He's probably a call duck mix and is just about the smallest mallard-derived duck at the lake.

A couple of photos from the lake

Herring gull

I haven't been at the lake much and when I have been, I haven't been taking a whole lot of photos.  I also went to the San Diego River area and took some photos that I haven't posted yet.  But, here are a few Lake Murray photos I took this morning beginning with the herring gull above. It may be the same herring gull I've seen for the last few years, the first year being a young juvenile.

Below, a brave sora came out to eat the food that people left for the ducks:

Here is Cinnamon and her one true boyfriend.  She is usually surrounded by at least four males, but this is the one that she loves.

And, finally, a photo of Pepper's good side.  He insists that people only see his good side, not the side with the messed up wing:

Just a few bird updates

The duck in the next photo might be Ducky, but I'm not sure.  There was another duck that acted and looked like him in another spot of the lake.  

This might be Ducky's girlfriend.  I think I also her brother there, too.  Ducky and his friends have been together for over two years since they were still ducklings.

I'm not sure, but this might be Sweetie, who looks like her Mama, Fish Food Mama:

The pretty female redhead is still there:

I found out that the Pekin duck on the left is a female, which is bad news because that means she will have about fifteen to twenty males after her.  The duck on the right is her boyfriend.  I hope he can protect her.

Here's the latest photo of Zippy, looking good!  Now, over two months old:

Her brother, Skippy who has a pretty green sheen going on with his head feathers.  Zippy also has that sheen, but not as much.

I don't know who this is, but he/she was in George's territory.  It might be Smudge.

Here is Miracle and she doesn't like that killdeer in the previous photo.  I caught her chasing him/her around. If the one in the previous photo is Smudge, it could be that Miracle is trying to chase her away because of an eligible bachelor killdeer in that area.  She might be trying to give her own daughter, Little Miracle, an advantage to snagging a mate.

Pat, the duck with the white on its head, seems to have found a friend.

Bossy Reappears

Bossy duck was seen this morning.  I am sure it was him because I saw what looked like a ring around the back of his head.  However, the ring looks very faded and has lost most of its orange color.

Here he is with a friend:

Also with Bossy was a redhead duck.  Redheads live here all year, but rarely breed.  I saw this girl a couple of weeks ago, but then she disappeared.

This young duck might be one of Fish Food Mama's first brood this year:

And, this is the duckling whom I think might be one of the original 8 from the "Snowies", a very faithful pair of ducks.  I think the parents might be Appleyard or Snowy Mallard mixes.  I am positive that this is one of their offspring, but they may have had two others survive as well.  He is 9 weeks old and, already, very large.

And, here is Yellowcheeks with Zippy and Skippy, now about 6 weeks old.  Skippy is sound asleep in this photo.  That's a baby coot on the right side.

Their possible sibling, the "Hot Duckling" is said to also be doing very well, though I did see her today.  I think I figured out how she got over there.  Ducklingnapper has been seen in that area several times since the duckling went missing.   Ducklingnapper probably stole her, but there was another mother with her own ducklings there around the same time.  So, the stolen duckling was, again, stolen by the other mother who, eventually, lost her own ducklings.  

And, I saw this young killdeer all by him/herself.  I thought it was a girl a while back, but now I'm thinking it might be a boy.  Still a very quiet little guy.

Today, I did not see Pepper, the broken winged duck that used to be the black duckling from last year.  This is the first time he's gone missing since last December or January.  I worry about him because of his broken wing.  His grandma, Fish Food Mama (and, now that I think about it, she might actually be his mother) is also gone and so is Bigboi.  I hope they're all together somewhere safe.  Last year, Pepper disappeared at this time of year, but back then he was still a duckling, sorta.  Bigboi is one of Fish Food Mama's favorite males.

Saturday morning at the lake

The two ducklings are still there, but don't seem to be growing normally, though they are feathering out correctly for their age of almost three weeks.

Here is the yellow-ish duckling:

 Zippy, or the black duckling.  Something also seems to be wrong with her eyes.  Actually, both of their eyes don't look right.  Zippy seemed a little tired-er than usual, too.

Mom is very good at handling predators so far.  There were gulls and herons to deal with today, but, last I saw them, they were OK and safe.

These dumped 3 month old Pekins are doing well and squeak-waaak at me.  The leader came right up and checked out my hand to see if I had a treat, but they all left when they realized I had no food.  Then, suddenly, they all ran into the water.  Finger-biter and Chocolate were swimming by and I think they are scared of them.

I found an osprey feather today under the osprey nest.  By law, I can't take it home, so I just looked at it and took a photo.  But, I have a feeling that someone else picked it up, anyway.

The young killdeer, whom I think are two of Junior's chicks, were together.  Here is the female:

Here is the male, whom is very protective of the female.

I did not see Bossy or Neo today, nor did I see the other two ducklings someone says lives in a different area than the two that I have been photographing.

A few duck pictures

I just went to the lake and I just stayed long enough to look for the ducklings and take a few pictures of the ducks.  

At first, I thought this female was Yellowcheeks, but it wasn't.  

Yellowcheeks and her two ducklings were seen yesterday, doing well.  I think that the weekend crowds have caused her to move away from the area.  Her ducklings are still extremely small, though, which makes me wonder about them.  They are two weeks old now and should be much larger and starting to get their first feathers, but they still look like one week olds.


This is a picture of another duck that looks and acts like Neo.  He even has the special pale eyelids and the paleness around the mouth and throat like Neo has.  I'm still not 100% sure this is him as his bill is way too yellow.

Pepper is acting much more confident and is even bossing and dominating some of the other ducks.  He made this other duck in front of him very nervous and he moved out of Pepper's way.  Pepper deliberately walked towards this duck to make him move even when he didn't have to.  The other duck is fine and even walked beside Pepper for a short distance. I thought it was Pepper's brother, at first, but he was making squeaking baby noises and Pepper's brother doesn't do that.

Pepper does a good job of keeping his broken wing's feathers in as good shape as possible.  He even flaps and moves both his wings around, but I can tell that the broken wing still hurts a little because he doesn't extend it all the way out when he flaps it.

The new rouen duck that looks like Cinnamon's Twin is very flirty and is calling all the other males to meet her.  Her boyfriend is trying his best to protect her.

Last Friday, at the ballfield where Miracle, Killer Jr. and their little chick used to stay, I noticed one of the power lines to the field's scoreboard had fallen and was draped over the fence.  I hope it's not live as it fell in the area where the little chick squeezes through the fence into the field.  I also hope none of the other killdeer were affected.  I suspect this event happened sometime earlier in the week and I know that Smudge and Peanut are OK as I've seen them since then, but am not sure about Pollux.  Right now, there are a lot of bugs around the lakeshore and canals and many of the killdeer are spending time there instead of the fields.

Sunset with ducks

Cinnamon and her #2 boyfriend

Sitting with Cinnamon and her friends at Sunset.  They passed by several times.

A Caspian tern was doing courtship dives, trying to impress a female:

Cinnamon with her #1 boyfriend:

Soon, her other boyfriends joined up, here she is with #1 and #2 boyfriends:

I saw absolutely no sign of Miracle, Killer Junior or their baby chick, but I saw no sign that anything happened to them, either.  I think they were way back on the golf course.  I suspect that, after yesterday's Cooper's hawk attack, they have moved out of that area for now.  I sure hope I see them again.