The ducks and coyotes are on the move

When I went to Lake Murray a couple of days ago, I've noticed that just about every non-flying duck has moved towards the boat docks where there is the most human activity and lighting.  The only non-flying duck that hasn't moved there, permanently, is the one I call the "fake muscovy" whom answers to the name of "Doug" or "Dougie" in which I will call him from now on.  When I went to the lake today, I noticed that the coyotes are frequenting much of the area around the ball fields where Doug, the "blonde" duck and a cayuga and gray duck used to hang out.  There was coyote scat all over that area.  There are a lot fewer ducks hanging out there now.

Here's some photos of the ducks that are now mostly hanging around near the boat docks and main parking lot.  Six of the pekins are still hanging out around the 2 mile mark, but they sleep near the boat docks at night and leave that area in the middle of the day.

Here is the gray duck and his girlfriend (with an unrelated male in between them) whose eyes have cleared up since I last saw her.

The gray duck who was wandering around looking for other males to wrestle with:

The girlfriend:

Oreo and Baby Blue:

Pepper, sleeping.

I saw this young male killdeer who looks like George III and another male hanging out.  I think the two males are related because when the one male left, the other one called to it in a friendly way.

Today, I saw lots of small birds, including several California gnatcatchers who played games with me and wouldn't let me take a picture of them.  One was singing really loud, too!  I think it was because there was another male across the lake.  He was also mad at all the bushtits using his bushes and eating all the bugs.

Here is a juvenile white-crowned sparrow:

A common yellowthroat:

And, one of the bushtits, a male:

Killdeer are back and other birds

The killdeers have begun to make their appearance again.  However, I don't know who, exactly, these guys are.  I'm thinking they're the Beautiful Dad or Shy's offspring as they look real young.  These next two look a little like Pollux and his son:

There were three other killdeer there, too, but I can't identify them:

Another youngster:

In George's territory, an adult male patrols a certain spot.  I don't recognize him.  He appears to be mature and almost looks like a fat version of George:

I think this might be Smudge and her young companion, but I'm not sure.

Running:

They headed over where the single male is and Smudge's boyfriend chased off the single male:

But, Smudge disappeared, so he looked all over for her.  I have no idea where she went.

I'm not sure, but this might be Ducky or Ducky's girlfriend's brother.  He's been fighting, I see:

Bigboi and the other domestics were found in a weird spot near these reeds away from shore.  I've never seen them there, ever.  It could be because the predators are more active and it's been cold.

Hiding in the reeds.  The buff was there, too, but was out of the frame:

The nine dumped ducks are doing OK for now.

Oreo is just not himself and is just wandering around aimlessly even though Cinnamon and her males have accepted him into their group.  All he wants to do is honk-whistle and do courtship behaviors and contests with the other males. Cinnamon's boyfriends have no reason to do courtship behaviors with him as they all already know their ranking with her and know who her #1 male is.

There is a male mallard that likes to play with him, but doesn't follow him around like Aflac did. So, Oreo just swims around by himself looking for males who will play his game.  I don't recall him being like that with Aflac or doing courtship behaviors with him like this.

Here are a couple of yellow-rumped warbler pictures:

And a common yellowthroat.  This little guy just kept following me around.  He wouldn't give up and went everywhere I did.

Orange-crowned warbler and one less Pekin

I think this is an orange-crowned warbler, one of the birds I know is always at Lake Murray, but I rarely see.  He was hopping around on this fence.  Didn't seem shy at all.

Big Mama Cooper's Hawk didn't seem to mind me taking her picture, either, even with the flash going.  Later, I found a half-eaten dead coot in the area.  It's unusual for her not to eat her entire kill, but she may have been disturbed by people walking by.

This is Bumblefoot and her mate.  She's very vocal:

And, she loves her mate.  Here she is saying "I love you" by doing head bobbing at him. She was actually walking better today.

Big Daddy thought I had some food, but I didn't:

Today, the black Swedish duck known as Oreo was by himself.  His friend, Aflac, was found dead and mostly eaten and it looks like raccoons got him and dragged him to the reeds near where they sleep.  Oreo was acting fairly normally, but when his flock containing Cinnamon and her boyfriends moved to another area, he stayed behind.  He's perhaps hoping his friend will "wake up" or show up again and, then, they will go together.

Here's a photo taken a couple of weeks after they arrived in late March/early April, 2011:

Cinnamon and her boyfriends (including Stubby) are OK, but I worry that the predator will be back for the rest of the ducks.