Neo's mom returns

Neo

I saw Neo with his mom early this morning, though she didn't seem very interested in Neo.  He does seem to love her, though, and will come running to her if he hears her quack.  I think I see some greening on Neo's bill similar to what older male ducklings have.  Not sure if he is, though.

Neo's mom

Neo is beginning to get his feathers and his head shape is a lot like his mom's.  He will be a month old this weekend:

Fish food mama still has five ducklings, now 11 days old.  Here they are in the very early morning:

Independent duckling

With his brother

 Here they are later.  At first, they settled into this one spot, but then their mom's mate forced them to move further away from her.

Trying to take a nap

There was a red-shouldered hawk nearby, but the king birds chased it away.  Red-shouldered hawks have been known to kill small ducks, but the ones here, so far, seem only interested in the squirrels all over the place.  Mom did a quick "quack!" and they all ran back to her:

Mom keeps one eye open for the hawks while her babies sleep:

I saw this new family today.  The babies are so much tinier than Fish Food Mama's:

A raven decided to go over to where Squeak and Pollux were taking care of their chicks, panicking them.  I think all three chicks got away as I don't even think the raven saw him.  Pollux went after the raven as well as a couple other birds in the area.  But, he stayed a fairly long time.  I went to go look for them, but they stayed quiet and I didn't see them.  I did hear Squeak calling for the chicks later on.

Junior was being a pain to photograph, but his mate was on the other side of the lake, feeding.  Here she is:

In Junior's territory, Killer Jr. and George III were playing "nest scrape and territory ownership" games.  Killer Jr. did his characteristic twitchy jumping around to claim the territory:

His brother, George III, claimed the territory by scraping and doing kill-dees.

Here is a photo of the first two coot chicks I've seen this year.  One of the parents just went under water to get some algae for them to eat:

I also came across this black-crowned night heron trying to eat a fishing lure.  I tried to see if I could get it away from him, but he acted like he would just carry it off if I approached him, so I let him be.

Spoonface (Bossy) duck:

Big Daddy is losing his colors:

And, the gadwall is molting, too:

Hawk harasses the killdeer

Cooper's Hawk in an earlier photo, perhaps the same one

When I first arrived at Field 7 at Lake Murray after riding my bike there on this foggy morning, I found three killdeer in the field, all adults. When I went around to the other side, I thought I found a fourth one. I think Mary was in that field, too. Then, a Cooper's hawk swooped down startling the killdeer and some doves feeding nearby and sitting on the fence. It did not get all the way over to where the killdeer were, but I saw three of them take off to the other fields, screaming their heads off.

I looked and looked and couldn't find the fourth. At first, I assumed he just flattened himself on the ground, but I think he took off somewhere else or buried himself in the dirt. Then, one killdeer, decided to fly around back to Field 7 making calls, including the "where are you" chirps, obviously looking for the missing killdeer. I think it might be Mary looking for her missing friend. She flew right towards where the hawk was perched. The hawk swooped down, scaring Mary away. It didn't appear to actually try to attack Mary or grab out for her in any way, but mostly was trying to get her out of the area. It's possible that the hawk was a juvenile and not sure how to catch killdeer or other faster flying birds and was testing them to see how she could go about doing so.

I went to the other fields where people were getting ready to play softball. There, I found Tiny, Secret and a third older juvenile (who looks a lot like George, but not quite) there. Secret is beginning to look a lot like dad with beautiful markings. In the next field, I think the "baby" killdeer was there along with the Tiny-look-a-like who called to him once in a while. The "baby" still has his chick-like peep instead of a call. I think Shy may have been there, too, but not sure. In the field across the parking lot, I think Beautiful Dad and the M6 mom was over there watching for the hawk.

Tiny

I think this could be Secret

Tiny's two foes, the one on the left looks a little like George

As I was getting ready to leave, the hawk flew right over the juvenile killdeer who were feeding with several grackles, doves and starlings. The four adults that had originally flown back from Field 7, plus one, flew off into the air, quickly along with about 50 other birds in the area. But, I didn't see anyone get caught. Killdeer were being scattered all about due to people coming onto the fields. Some where getting into fights as Tiny and his two friends moved into the other field. The hawk flew off toward Field 7 and disappeared, hopefully to hunt somewhere else. I will be checking on Tiny and the other killdeer later today or perhaps tomorrow morning.

This is the kind of thing killdeers have to put up with throughout their lives, so there's nothing I can do about it. All I can do is hope that Tiny is healthy and strong and is able to escape the hawk by strength or by being sharp of mind and attention. Tiny seemed unfazed at the hawk and stayed on the ground the whole time.

I think something changed with the feeding schedule of the squirrels and I think that many of the easy to catch squirrels have all been caught. So, the hawk might be testing the other birds to possibly tap into that food supply and find out who would be easiest to catch. Most of the birds on those fields are feeding there for insects and worms, so they're not dependent on a feeding schedule set by people. Killdeer are very high strung and are usually the first to get flushed, if they get flushed at all, but they scatter and can fly very fast and maneuver well, so they have a pretty good chance at not getting caught (unless they do something stupid like Mary did). Hopefully, I won't find a pile of killdeer feathers one day when I go to check on them.

There are some noticeably "missing" birds in the area since the hawks started hanging around. For one, the M4 male has been missing since the end of the breeding season, but I thought I saw him a couple of weeks ago, so I suspect that he may just be hanging out somewhere else like George is right now. Also, the little duckling, once one of three in that area, went missing a few weeks ago and hasn't been seen. But, he was about 10 days to 2 weeks old when he went missing and just about every wild duckling I've seen changes feeding areas at that age. Plus there has been construction going on nearby, so he may just be somewhere where I can find him or visit. He may be back when construction is over.

Sign of the end of killdeer breeding season?

Female killdeer stretching her wings

When I last visited the lake, I originally found what I thought was three or four killdeer in one area of M2's territory. I wasn't expecting (or hoping) to find any killdeer at all because M2 should have been attending to a nest in his nesting area. But, something must have happened to that nest. Three of the killdeer looked like M2, M3 and possibly M5, whom I've also seen fighting over females elsewhere. I spotted an unknown female with those three, but it could be F2, Little Male's "stolen" mate.

3 male killdeer and one female on the left

When I walked ahead, I found another female, F1 (M3's mate) getting harassed and pecked by the grackles trying to eat the duck food someone had left.

F1 (M3's mate)?

The males were making various gestures towards each other such as dipping and tail flashing. I've noticed that if a male turned his back and dipped, he was basically left alone. However, if he turned toward another male and dipped, he risked being attacked, especially if he flashed his orange tail feathers at the other male. There was also a lot of calling, trilling, and angry trill-calls, probably from M2. It almost sounded like roosters arguing.

The females just walked around, preening and feeding, ducking the grackles who flew right over their heads, almost hitting them.

On the other side of the peninsula and the lake parking lot, F3 and Little Male were all alone. F3 showed almost no fear of me and pretty much let me walk up to her without getting upset.

F3 being dominant and unfraid

However, Little Male was acting like a big baby, acting very submissive and hiding. Even when I had walked very far away, he still flatted himself and trilled. F3 came up to him, seeming to comfort him, but it still took him a while to stop. I've seen males act this way around females while in their feeding areas, but he was really going all out. But, that's his personality, he always over-acts. This may be due to his young age.

M1 (Little Male) being submissive and calling

M4 was all alone, but again losing his voice. I spotted M7 guarding his area, too.

When I came back, I wanted to make sure none of the killdeer had gotten hurt or killed by any grackles because a couple of them were getting pecked at earlier. All the grackles were over in Little Male's territory and he was all alone, trilling as I walked by. But, they didn't seem to be bothering him.

In M2's territory, all was very, very quiet. It was kinda nice, not a grackle in sight. I thought it was because there were fewer people or because the food was gone. Not even the phoebes were flying around. The killdeer were there, this time there were six of them because F3 had joined them, but they were totally quiet. A couple of the females foraged, but most of them were very quiet and very still. This wasn't unusual as it's often their way of hiding from predators. They totally blend into the environment this way.

As I was beginning to leave the area, I saw a cooper's hawk fly to the trees. A killdeer screamed at almost the same time it flew over, but I thought it was because someone's child scared it away. This could have been a fatal mistake if it was ten seconds earlier as cooper's hawks often hunt by causing panic to a flock of birds to get them to fly off into the air where they can get snagged. But, this hawk wasn't hunting the killdeer, it flew over closer to where the grackles were hanging around. I don't think it had a target that time, just checking out the area for possible prey and hunting strategy. So, the male that flew off (I think it was M3 going back to his territory), was safe that time. All the other killdeer continued to stay very quiet and still. Let's hope that none of my killdeer friends make this mistake again.

I had a feeling that the abundance of grackles in the area might attract bird hawks. But, one thing about hawks, you know they're hunters and the killdeer and phoebes know they're hunters, so they're not going to let their guards down when they know they're around.

I'm wondering if this sudden gathering of all the neighboring killdeer signals the end of the breeding season. The males were still displaying to each other, though, so this may be a way to "regroup" and select new mates and territories. Little Male didn't seem to want any part of being in this group. I think it may have to do with him picking fights with two of the males and getting that bruise on his chest. Like I've said before, he's very young and perhaps three older males together seem too intimidating to him.