Love is in the air

"Killer", George's son

Today, was a warm day at Lake Murray and everyone had love on their mind, even the hawks were flirting.

Killer was seen with Digger who seems to be in love with him. He still doesn't seem too excited about her, but watches over and protects her.



In the ballfields, the M6 "Beautiful Dad" was doing nest scrapes with the mama of his three chicks, Digger, Shy and Secret. Even though she left him and had another chick (named Surprise) with another male, he still wants her for a mate.



They flirted and danced with each other all morning.






In another ballfield, I found three young killdeer, but they wouldn't turn around and look at me, so I couldn't tell who they are. I suspect that they're Shy, the male that likes her, Surprise and his friend, the Tiny look-a-like.

Also seen:

I also saw some long-billed dowitchers, too.



It looks like there's one adult and one juvenile. You can tell the difference between short-billed and long-billed dowitchers by listening to their voice. Here's the juvenile:



I saw two sandpipers, one came right up to me, the other didn't. But, I got a photo of the one that kept running away:




Ducky, aka the "lost" duckling, turned out to be a boy afterall. He is such a happy young duck, now three months old, and loves to hang around a certain sister-brother group:

"Ducky" is the one in front

I also saw a great egret, too:



And, an eared grebe in winter colors: