Lake update 02/07/2011

It's been a lot quieter at Lake Murray in regards to the waterfowl as many have moved on since the feeding there has diminished. All the domestic ducks are still there as are all the geese except one Canada goose that has been missing for a few days. Breeding season is beginning in this region and many birds have gone off to begin pairing up and having babies. Most of the geese have moved near the ballfield areas at the northern end of the lake, including two missing geese that have shown up again.

Killer and Digger were seen enjoying the bugs in their dad's territory. Killer has gotten a little more nervous about people lately and does more alarm calls than he used to. However, he's nowhere as nervous as Little Male (Junior) was, at least yet. Perhaps he's anxious about his mate.



In the ballfields, the Surprise and his guardian were feeding in the shade, but I didn't get a picture of him.

The hurt duck is still around and is looking better, but probably won't grow his feathers back until next fall. He may never fly well ever again, though. It depends on how bad the damage to his pinion joint is:




There were two red-tails flying around being mobbed by crows. One red-tail went one way and the other kept going until he circled around me. Later, he came back to hunt rats in the reeds near the lakeshore:




These shoveler ducks were sleeping while that coot was sneaking around: