Shorebirds seen today at the San Diego River Mouth

I took my bike out today and took some pictures at the San Diego River Mouth. Many of the birds were too far to get good shots. But, here are some examples of what I saw:

Long-Billed Curlew:


Lesser Yellowlegs:



Greater and little heron:



Black-bellied plovers and snowy egrets:



In this photo are some western gulls, pelicans, black-bellied plovers, least tern and a snowy egret:



Juvenile and adult willets:







And, at least 1 whimbrel:



Also seen were a few marbled godwits, but I didn't get good photos of them.

Wood ducklings!

I took some of photos of the wood ducklings, now 3 weeks old. 7 of them are still alive:




Also, the bald killdeer chick may have been seen with her mom and/or dad. She's still having head feather issues, but is not totally bald. I could not get a photo of her through the fence.

It looks like Killer's two sons are hanging out together. Killer Jr. still hasn't figured out what to do with his tail:



Here's a photo of Big Mama Cooper I took. It's rare for me to get a photo of her, especially from the front, as she's always been wary of me. Look how big her talons are. Almost too big for her own good. I encouraged Pepper, his mom and little sister to leave the area before they get hurt.



Cinnamon was seen hanging out with the new Pekin and Swedish ducks whom have made themselves at home with them. I am worried, though, as coyotes regularly patrol this area and those two are very bright with their white feathers at night.




I *think* this might be Pip and Peeper, the ducklings I rescued last month. They're still together, though they do separate now and then. However, one won't let the other totally get out of their sight.

New ducklings

There's still little ducklings coming out. This is the female that had the one disobedient duckling about a week ago. That duckling disappeared. Recently, she was spotted with this duckling.



It's been hot and all the ducks are laying in the shade and hiding most of the day, so it may seem like all the animals have disappeared at Lake Murray recently.

Here's the missing "bossy" duckling. I don't know where his mom is today, but I do know she checks on him now and then. He's looking a little thin.



Ducky's duckling sitting in the grass in the morning:



A baby coot being fed by it's parents:





This western gull is in it's third year, almost fully grown. I think it's mate/sibling was killed by a hawk recently:



The ring-billed gull is doing fine. His foot seems better, but he doesn't stand on it much. But, it is often used for grooming and it seems fully functional. He's molting right now:



Surprise!

Bob2, the spotted sandpiper, is back! And, she's lost most of her spots. It's a little early for her return. I couldn't get a photo of her as she flew off, screaming.

Also, two more geese, Grumpy and his friend, decided to visit Coyoteland across the lake. So far, nothing's happened to them. But, I think they're looking for food. I gave Louie some extra romaine lettuce I had today and he seemed extremely hungry.

Missing:

The little male gadwall that used to hang around Alvarado Bay at Lake Murray is missing. I saw a pile of feathers that might have come from him nearby. There is no sign of the female gadwall with the two ducklings, but she's rarely seen.

RIP brown Chinese gander

The mean and nasty brown Chinese gander at Lake Murray went missing this week. He seemed fine last Sunday when someone chased him into the water. Louie, his white Chinese friend, led him to get fed by some kids and that was the last time I actually saw him. I thought I heard him way across the lake where they do the fireworks on Tuesday. Someone was walking a dog and he wasn't too far from the paved road and started to scream at the dog.

But, I thought that surely couldn't be him there all alone without Louie. Then, on Thursday, I checked again and saw and heard nothing. Today, I went and checked thoroughly where I last heard him and saw a big pile of brownish-gray feathers and goose down. I've seen this before and I think the brown gander got eaten by coyotes. I have no idea why he would ever go over there by himself except that someone told me that geese will isolate themselves if they are sick. He hasn't been acting right for the last couple of weeks and I don't think he ate that much. So, maybe his mind wasn't right.

Louie

In the meantime, Louie is all alone and most of the rest of the flock do not accept him. He is, however, trying to befriend a pair of ganders who are also outcasts.



In Killdeerland, Georgina disappeared and then returned with Spike. They seem to be flying around a lot, checking out the good places to eat and play.

Georgina going through her first molt

Spike

I saw the wood ducklings again, down to seven, but almost 3 weeks old:


The bossy ducklings seem to have one missing. But, I think the one went off by himself. Mom seems to know where he is and he doesn't seem to want to go back with her.



Today, one of Ducky's ducklings was seen off by herself, too. Very cute. You can still see a little fuzz on her.



Curly is looking good in his transitional feathers:



All of the boat dock ducklings are fine, too, as far as I know. Here's a slideshow I did on them:



And, Pip and Peeper are back at Lake Murray! They still stick together and are doing very well. They're even accepted by the flock and go off with the other ducks when the flock moves around.




Other birds:

I got a shot of a hooded oriole:




And, a nuttall's woodpecker:



Here are some baby grebes:




Wood ducks:



And, a weird wood duck drake with a problem with a hole in his bill. That's his tongue hanging out from his chin.

Junior leaves, Spike courts Georgina

I think Junior is gone from Lake Murray, but has left his daughter, Georgina in charge of yelling at me. She is so pretty with her many spots that I can't seem to get a picture of. She appears to be beginning a molt:

Georgina

Yesterday, Spike and his cousin, George III, were spending time flirting with Georgina. They're both going through a hard molt, shedding their baby feathers for big boy feathers. Spike looks worse because he's a bit older.

Spike

Finally got a photo of the killdeer at Bonita Valley Christian Center. I think these two might be two boys or a boy and a girl. I swore I saw a third one and I did see the dad, but never got a picture of her. They're almost a month old:






Here's a photo of mom.



Peaches' ducklings are doing fine. They were playing in a puddle on the sidewalk, which is weird because there's a whole lake for them to play and drink from. All the ducklings seem to be flying, but Pepper and his brother (the gray duckling), decided to walk down to the lake, instead.

Pepper

When the got near to getting into the water, they picked on this older draklet (well, the gray duckling did) who had an injured leg:



The draklet took it out on Pepper:



Mom came up and told him to knock it off:



Didn't see the bossy ducklings, but Ducky's ducklings are all well.

I also saw this little tiny one all alone running around near a crow and seagull. When he saw me, he went into the water. After a few minutes, Big Daddy's daughter claimed him and he eventually settled down at her side.

Here's something unusual: A cool bee swarm at the lake.



I went to Famosa slough and got some photos which I will post later.