Fly week for killdeer chicks, ducklings getting big!

Spike and Squiggy, 24 days old

*Blogger was down much of the last day, so I could not update

This is the beginning of fly week for the killdeer chicks. Killdeer chicks tend to start to fly between 26 and 33 days old. They also go through a tremendous growth spirt, lose most of their down, and begin to fly. Today, I did not see them. But, I did see them a couple of days ago and they did not look like they were ready to fly at all. I couldn't get close, but here's some photos of them I took a couple of days ago:

Spike

I found out that Shy has charged herself with two of the chicks and today, it looked like she was trying to get them to follow her near the coyote area and drainage ditch, but she wasn't being successful. I also think Spike and Squiggy have run off towards the water, too, as I heard chick noises around there. Dad seems to know where they are, though. I hope to see them again by this time next week. Here's a photo of Shy panicking because she has lost sight and sound of the chicks:



The ducklings by the boat dock and showing good development. However, they are being a little more disobedient and when mom swam away, many didn't follow her. Then, some developmentally disabled kids started throwing rocks and she flew off. The ducklings, thinking the kids were throwing food, chased after the splashes from the rocks. Also, their dog got lose and jumped into the water, luckily the ducklings weren't there at that time. I think the ducklings ended up hanging around the kids all day. I hope they're OK and will check on them, soon. In the meantime, enjoy these pics:

Pepper and his sister. Pepper is turning browner and all the bigger ducklings are beginning to get pins on their wings:



The gray duckling:



All the ducklings huddled, sleeping:



The gray duckling and a sibling:


Another good thing is that Peach's sister, Butterscotch still have at least 5 of the 14 ducklings she had started with . 5 is a good number to have. She's also using the boat dock as a shelter. I couldn't get any photos of her today. But, Peaches is sure happy to have her around.

Here's another set of ducklings, three days old. When I last saw them, there were four of them, now there's only three:







Bigboi, Pepper's presumed dad, came to visit me:



The heron chicks are getting big! Sometimes, it's hard to tell if what I'm seeing is an adult or baby:



I also saw a wood duck family a couple of days ago, but the mom didn't let me get too close. It looks like she's got about 5 ducklings right now:



I also saw a ring-billed gull a couple of days ago, rare for this time of year. The California gulls were picking on it. It had an injured foot and it appeared to have an injured wing, too.