Surprise Baby Ducks

I was really surprised when I visited Lake Murray, last night, that not only were the two older ducklings doing well and the three very young ducks doing well, but I found a mother with ten ducklings that were at least five days old doing well.  I think the mom with ten might be Peaches's mother.

First, the two older ducklings. They are more and more looking like a male and a female. They reached their one month old mark today.

The three that I've seen before are still alive and well.

This is the mother duck whom I thought looked like Peaches' mother with the ten ducklings. The gulls seems to be strangely absent lately which is nice because I can enjoy the ducklings without worrying about them being snatched. The herons also appear to not be as active.

Someone was throwing bread at them, hence the bread in the next couple of pictures.

Then, all sets of ducklings disappeared into hiding. I didn't see them at all.

The youngest baby goose is beginning to look like a grown-up.

And, a surprise wood duck. This one looks like either Doodle's son or that one that used to chase Doodle around.

Ducklings are now in!

Finally, we're starting to see ducklings--a lot of them.  I am seeing new broods every time I go to Lake Murray in San Diego.  Last Tuesday, I came across the mom that had four ducklings, but now she had two. 

After I had taken their picture and walked away, mama duck began screaming her head off.  When I came back, one of the ducklings had somehow gone a long distance in a matter of about 30 seconds.  I'm suspecting a young gull or crow took him, but dropped him when mom went after him.  Both ducklings were re-united after a few minutes.  However, I didn't see those two ducklings or their mama today, so I'm not sure if they made it.

Last Tuesday, I found Boat Dock Peaches with one duckling.  I didn't see the duckling today, but I did hear Boat Dock Peaches screaming her head off at the males as she usually does. I don't know if she still had her one duckling:

I did see the other mother who had four ducklings who still has three that are growing large.

Another mother with four hatchlings:

This mom had six or seven ducklings.  I thought I saw her with seven at first, but later I only saw her with six.  Here she is with 5 ducklings:

Troublemaker is still very small, but mostly feathered now.

He's still about half the size of his siblings:

Here's a few of his beautiful sisters:

And, finally, the baby Canada geese are nearly full grown and are flying a little:

Update on the popular birds

Here is an update about the more popular birds at Lake Murray.  First, Screamy the killdeer was seen and heard today.  It appears that he didn't find a mate this year.

Ducky Ducky is beginning to look beat up.  Also, she's taken to wandering around the lake and I suspect the Pekins on the other side of the lake have been the ones doing this to her.

Mr. Pekin and Big Bumblefoot sleeping together.  The other male in their group went missing.  he was part of the "Four Babies" dumped about two years ago or so.  Now, there's only "Two Babies":

I think this was that newer Pekin dumped a few months ago.:

Pepper is doing just great:

There's a new buff duck at the lake:

A duck that was dropped off from Project Wildlife says hello and wonders where the treats are:

The goslings have gotten big and are getting their adult feathers now.  So, they kinda look weird:

Baby update for Lake Murray

Snowie still has her one duckling:

However, her other duckling was all alone screaming his head off.  I couldn't see the leucastic mama anywhere.  A gull heard him and went over to see if he could get the duckling, but the duckling was very smart, hid, and stayed very quiet.  You almost couldn't see him.  I'm glad I was there because the Cooper's hawk was nearby and, I think, looking for him, too.  But, the mama eventually came back after about a half hour or so and led him away.

A new mama with three bitties leading them into a bad area.  I think this was one of the females who hung around Oreo's gang.

Now for the goslings.  Here's papa goose with the yellow headed gosling that likes to hang around dad.   He's a bossy one and I think he might be a male:

Mama goose standing guard nearby:

Two goslings:

Mom and three goslings:

Leading them back up:

The yellow-headed gosling running up the hill:

Also, while I was there, a least bittern came out in the open.  However, my camera lens wasn't working right because I dropped the bag my camera was in.  By the time I got it fixed, he had gone into the reeds.  This was the best picture I got:

What's up with these two killdeer?  They were found soaking wet, but they could still fly.  They seemed to be mates and did friendly peeps to each other:

Mrs. Pekin is doing very well in her new home.  I didn't see Sissy duck today and Ducky Ducky, the newly dumped orange duck, was also missing.  I'm a little worried about her.

Snowie's baby is returned and other baby bird news

Snowie's stolen duckling was still with his ducklingnapper this morning, snuggled against her while they swam.  But, later, she went back to Snowie's family, which still contained 7 babies, and he mixed in with his brothers and sisters:

When the family moved on, he went with him, but mostly stayed by himself.  However, when he felt uncomfortable, he went back to Snowie.  The other female took a nap and later went looking for the family and, when she found them, she stayed nearby.

Snowie was having a hard time with her mate and her son.  She has her mad mama face on while she chased her son away:

Still 5 goslings in the same area.  They're starting to get big:

One of the goslings has zooming around under water:

Dad seems confused as to where his gosling went (he's under the water) .  But, the gosling was fine:

There's still three babies in the front heron's nest.  The other two in the other nest seem to have completely fledged:

It appears that the two baby osprey that were left in the nest have fledged.  I think one even returned.

Baby Blue and his mate whom I found out was named Ducky Ducky by the man who dumped her:

Mrs. Pekin looks absolutely awful.  She is now the last surviving domestic female dumped before last September.  I hope she gets better.  Little Sissy, the buff, is dead.