Some old favorites return

Some old favorites are being seen at the lake right now.  First, here is George III, whom I last saw following Junior and his mate around a few months back;

I think this might be Squeak, who has been missing for a very long time.  I can see her little "bow tie" on her forehead.

I am fairly sure the one on the right is Dee, Killer's mate.  I think Killer was there, too.  The one on the left looks to be a young male killdeer, perhaps George IV, her son, or another son.

Don't know who this next one is, but it might be Pollux's son:

Hurt wing is alive and well, she's about 16 months old now and has had a broken wing for about 13 or 14 months:

Louie and Picked On"

Jill and her Canada gander mate:

Pat, the bi-gender duck:

And, three young ducks.

I don't think I've seen George and Martha lately, but I'm not sure.  And, Fred the greater yellowlegs is back and was calling for all his friends.

Fish Food Mama's Ducklings

Fish Food Mama, the mom of the three ducks Peaches, Caramel, and Butterscotch, is still doing well with her five little ducklings now about 9 days old.  I am so surprised that they have survived so long is such a dangerous location with herons, ravens, crows, gulls, and human children who like to chase and throw rocks and them.

Neo Update:


No sign of Neo's mom at all, but Neo seems to be healthy and not in distress.  He is now 25 days old and totally alone.  He comes out of his hiding place for about 10 to 15 minutes and then disappears.

Saw 4 baby green herons in the reeds, 3 of them pictured here:

Later, I came back and only saw one of them:

Squeak and Pollux are still taking care of their chicks, which are hiding:

Squeak

Pollux

I saw this California king snake.  Junior's mate was really upset about it as it is a threat to her chicks or eggs.  I didn't see it trying to get any chicks or eggs, it seemed to want to cross the road.

I also saw what I think might be Bob's mate and Bob herself nearby.

Christmas Bird Count Training

Killdeer

Yesterday, I went to the Christmas Bird Count training at Rohr Park in Bonita.  The actual Christmas Bird Count for San Diego will be next weekend.  So, I was able to brush up on my small birds as there's a lot of small birds there.  However, many of these birds were too fast for my camera, hence the less than perfect focus to blurriness on some of the photos.

Cedar Waxwings

Orange-crowned warbler

 This next bird, the Painted Redstart, is actually far from it's normal range.  They have a summer range of central/southern Arizona and usually live in Mexico.

There also was a northern parula, but it was way too fast for even a blurry photo.

Below, are some sleepy killdeer, sleeping in the horse corral.  These are the same killdeer I see at the church, which is across the street:

Townsend's warbler

Western Bluebird

We also saw a kestrel, merlin, red-shouldered hawk, red-tailed hawk, Cooper's hawk, sparrows, finches of all kinds and a palm warbler.

Sad day for Shy and Tom the Muscovy

Today is a sad day for Shy because two of her eggs were found smashed open, probably by a crow or blackbird. One egg was missing and another was pushed under the fence and could no longer be brooded. It looked like it happened yesterday evening as the ants had not gotten to them, yet, but it was starting to dry up. One egg still had an embryo that looked like it was about a week, more or less, developed. The dad was still around as was Shy's parents. Everyone seemed really somber. Shy probably went somewhere to reset her hormones so that she can try again. Hopefully, she and her mate will choose a better spot. There's no hope for her last egg, it was stone cold this morning. I pulled it out so it's more accessible to the father in case he decides to keep trying to brood it.

Tom hasn't been seen for almost two weeks now. No one who knows him has seen him, either. I thought I saw him in the brush in his napping area this morning, but it didn't look like he was alive. I think he might have died of old age in his sleep. I don't think a predator got him, just a peaceful death.

In the south bay

Today, I went to the Tijuana Estuary and the South Bay and took some photos of the birds.

He's a photo of a long-billed Curlew:



And, a couple of willets:






Here's a couple of cliff swallows gathering mud before a Cooper's hawk decided to try to get them for dinner:





At the Visitor's center of the Tijuana Estuary, I saw a Say's phoebe nest:



And, in the south bay, I saw a bunch of little shorebirds. Most of these are semi-palmated plovers, western sandpipers and sanderlings:



And, finally, a photo of what looks like to be a western sandpiper alone:

Killdeers get nervous

Digger, running

Love is still in the air and the killdeer are beginning to get back to their noisy selves. They call and trill more than they did over the non-breeding season. Killer, especially, seems particularly upset about me and does a mobbing call sometimes when he sees me.

Killer is beginning to look more and more like his dad that I thought he was George for a minute. But, his body shape is more like his mother's:

Killer

Digger looks a lot like her dad in her markings and her head shape, though less rounded than her dad's:

Digger

This gadwall was hormonal, chasing all the other male mallards around and trying to flirt with the females, even females that are already in established pairs:

Here's a lovely duck couple, a "chocolate" duck and one of Big Daddy's daughters:

They were rooting around in the mud with a few coots:

I saw a couple of coots lovingly grooming each other. It was so cute. Each was taking turns grooming the head of the other one:

Birdy update

I have been busy lately, so sorry I haven't updated in over a week.

We had some cold days and rain lately. Just before the cold snap, Tom didn't look as good as he usually does. His chest was a little caved in, he's lost weight and one of his eyes was runny.



However, a few days later, he looked a lot better. It's suspected that eating bread and junk food may be causing him some issues. Lately, there has been less people at the lake feeding the birds and that could be why he got better.

Killer and Digger haven't been in the feeding area lately, but I did hear them flying over the water treatment plant. On the other side of the lake, the new M4 male has been battling it out for his territory. I think I've seen Shy and Firecracker in the area, but am not certain.



At my home, the pool phoebe hasn't been around much since around the time the rain stopped. A few days ago, he was seen sitting on the TV antenna with his dad who was doing territorial calls. I don't know if he moved somewhere else or something happened to him:



Also seen: Curly, who is doing very well. And, the sick seagull looked like he was on his way to recovery. And, of course, Big Daddy, Cinnamon, the chocolate ducks, Big Boi and the domestic posse are all doing well. But, that new cayuga female has not been seen in a few days.

And, I finally got a photo of one of the moorhens at Lake Murray! I have been trying for a while, but they would scurry away by the time I got my camera out: