Everyone is growing up!

More ducklings have hatched and all of Peaches' and some of Caramel's ducklings have made it to about 4 weeks old, save the ones that they stole from Butterscotch, who are three weeks.

7 ducklings

Pepper and the gray duckling

Pepper

Also, three of the four killdeer chicks from the M6 parents have been seen flying. The smallest chick, Pollux, has not been seen, yet, but may be nearby.

Castor

Squiggy

Spike

Killer was having an argument with another killdeer that looked a little bit like his brother, Tiny:



Junior was courting his mate by scraping a hole in the ground right in the middle of where people, dogs, ducks, crows, and seagulls all walk! In fact, two people with dogs walked right through his nest scrape. I hope this is only a courtship scrape and not a real nest scrape:



So many new ducklings today. Ducky's girlfriend was seen with some little ones. First, she was seen with only one. Later, she was seen with two more.



And, here's a mom with about a dozen new ducklings. I couldn't get a photo of all of them:



The mom who had started with four, then had three, and now one was seen with her one duckling. It's entirely possible, with all the new mothers around, that the other two may have gone off with another brood:




One heron chick has fledged, the other is still waiting his turn. But, his sibling visits the nest now and then.



I found a surprise today, a juvenile black-crowned night heron:



The sad thing was that there was a small, dead, wet duckling nearby. I don't know if this heron was the reason why it was dead or if it was carried there by something else. The poor little duckling had been dead for a while and was emaciated. It looked like it had never eaten anything. His eyes were closed and one leg was stretched out. I suspect he may have died from drowning or hypothermia and was picked out of the water by either the heron or the nearby seagulls.