Yellowlegs are back!

The first greater yellowlegs came back to Lake Murray today. I wonder if it's the same one that arrived at the same time, last year.



Other shots taken today include:

A green heron and a young duck. The young duck freaked me out because she looks exactly like the duck that died last Friday even down to the pale bill and markings on the bill. I thought I saw a ghost, but more likely her sister. Only when the dead duck was alive, her bill was more bright orange.



Here's a shot of the dead duck's two other siblings:



The baby seagull is still begging for food from its mother:



Bossy duckling is doing very well and loves hanging out with these males, getting chased by a daddy coot trying to protect his chicks:




Bossy's two sisters were across the lake. Here they are with Peep, whom one of his sisters is in love with. Pip was also nearby:



I found this coot, I think it was sick. It's a juvenile and missing large portions of it's feet. It was all alone and couldn't seem to keep his eyes open. He did get up and start swimming and eating, but he's really lethargic. It worries me because the new friendly ducklings were hanging around nearby:



And, here's one of the friendly ducklings nearby. I thought I saw fishing line when I looked at the photo, but I think it was a spider's web. His sister was nearby and she looked like she had fishing line around her head, but when I looked later, it was gone. It was probably an algae string. I'm think I'm just being extra concerned about fishing lines right now. They were hanging out right near where the dead duck was laying (I reported the dead duck to staff who said they would remove it, but hadn't when I last checked):



And, Pepper was seen, too!



Finally, I saw this grebe with a crayfish. Another grebe relentlessly attacked the one with the crustacean until the first one swallowed it.