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.