Snowie returns with more babies!

I was surprised to see Snowie show up with seven new babies.  I was worried she was the one that someone stole a few weeks ago (or that I heard a report that someone stole).  I was hoping she was on the nest.  A few months ago, she lost her first brood and this is her second brood who all look extremely tired.  I don't think she ever rested them.

I found this mama with two ducklings that I think used to live near the front entrance.  One duckling is a lot bigger than the other.  At this age, I have noticed that boy ducklings have a growth spurt, but the girls eventually catch up.  The smaller duckling also seems weaker.

Later, when I came back, I saw several kids from a school near where the mama was throwing rocks at them.  Mama screamed and moved the ducklings away and I think a rock hit one of them.  Then, they disappeared.  I did see them reach another shore and one duckling was running around, but I looked everywhere and couldn't find them.  I know the kids didn't follow after them as I heard them ask each other where they went.

I went over to admonish the kids (and whomever was there that was in charge of them), but they all disappeared extremely fast (It only took three minutes to walk over and, suddenly, that area was empty though they were over there for at least half an hour before).  I saw two people wearing similar shirts as the school standing nearby, but they lied and claimed that there were never kids there and had no idea what I was talking about.

I thought I saw a duckling running in some brush, but when I looked, I couldn't find anything.  I hope those ducklings are OK and weren't seriously hurt.  I think mom may have stashed them in the brush and went away to distract the kids.

I saw this mama duck and her three new ducklings:

Something happened to one of the baby coots as there's only three.  There were four of them on Sunday.

This gull was watching the coots and ducklings, but didn't seem very interested in eating them.

This is Butterscotch and her three surviving ducklings now almost three months old.  One of them is a boy and two are girls:

Oreo went over to the "duck bench" near the 2 mile mark.  I hope he leaves Bumblefoot alone.  Bumblefoot is actually looking a bit better now that breeding season is winding down.  Oreo looks extremely thin:

The little call/duclair duck is still going strong:

I think this western grebe is sick as he's hanging around on the shore.  It's extremely unusual as these grebes can't walk very well on land, if at all.  But, he's alert and was swimming around, so he may be OK and probably has a stomach ache or something.

Tragedy at the raven's nest:

(Graphic Pic)

I went to check on the raven's nest I'm monitoring.  I've been monitoring this nest for two years now and have seen babies fledge from there.  But, this morning, I found a dead raven hanging from the nest.  At first, I thought it was the mom, but now that I look at the picture, I know it was one of the two babies in the nest.  It looks like fishing line might be involved, but I'm not sure.  He still has down on his wings, so I'm thinking this happened in the last week and he may not have died from the hanging.  It's too bad that no one could help him.

At first, I thought it was the mom hanging and all babies were dead, but when I went back a few hours later, I found dad and one of the babies sitting on a nearby roof.  Looks like Dad brought breakfast:

Here is mom and dad raven.  They were both kinda upset that I was there and were flying around from tree to tree.  I think they were protecting their dead baby.  I thought I heard a noise from the nest, but I didn't see any living babies up there at all and the one hanging is definitely dead.  They didn't attempt to go into the nest.

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:

Lots to see at the lake

Tiny

Today, there was lots going on this morning at Lake Murray. Tiny was all alone in the feeding area. I have a feeling that Killer and Digger may be gone for good and found their own home. Now, it could be Tiny's turn to use the area.

Tiny was taking a bath:

Do you mind? I'm taking a bath!

Then, all his duck and coot friends came over to say hello to him. Tiny's a bit uncomfortable with coots, but he likes ducks.

Hello ducks!

Duck news:

All the ducks are doing great right now. Bill is no longer feeding them, but someone is leaving some seed around here and there and many of the animals are very fat right now, so there's no worry. The pigeons and ducks still associate me with food and the pigeons will land on my hands and arms.

Tom came up to see if I had any food. He nipped my hands, gently, but when he realized that I didn't taste good, he left. Later, someone offered him bread, but he didn't care for that, either.



Snowball, Flycatcher, and the fish-food ducklings were doing well. Chocolate was seen with some friends.



This may be Chocolate's dad, but there's three that look similar. This duck usually stands straight up, but he's trying to sleep right now.



Ducky is doing well and he's getting bossy when it comes to getting girls, even though he's still not quite old enough to breed. Here he is shoving his way between a flycatcher sister and his duckling-hood friend:



The pintail was there and was very friendly. And, that one injured/sick duck was almost completely healed. He started growing again, too. I also saw one gadwall:



And, Curly is doing well, came right up to me wondering where his food was:



And, something new, some northern shovelers (and some scaups):



I found this clump of down, it's very soft and still attached to some skin. There is a duck missing a good chunk of his feathers near his leg, but he's not this color. There was also a big white feather nearby, too. It could also be from a goose. Perhaps a dog or coyote chomped on it. There were dog tracks nearby, but people walk their dogs along the lake all the time. Other than that one duck, I don't see anyone injured and I don't suspect anyone is missing. However, one of the gadwalls that hang out as a pair was not seen today, but was seen yesterday. But, gadwalls often come and go there.




Hawk vs Crows/ravens:

The young female Cooper's hawk was being very ambitious when she took on some crows and ravens. One crow viciously returned her attack and tried to get the rest of his family to join in, but they were cautious.



Originally, I thought that the crows were mobbing her while she was minding her own business, but she was deliberately attacking them, one in particular-- the one who fought back.



I saw her almost catch him, too. She loves to attack black-colored birds, but these guys were way bigger than her. I don't know if she got her breakfast. This crow and raven were watching everything without joining in.