Some fall migrating ducks

Just a few duck photos of our fall visitors beginning with some female cinnamon teal:

Where're the boys?

A ruddy duck, though they're here all year around, just not usually at this lake:

Wigeons:

And, there were a few killdeer around.  This one looks like Shy's Mate:

This could be his son, he looks a lot like Miracle:

Lots of killdeer and a pelican

Killdeer at sunrise

Lots of killdeer around today, hanging around in Cooper's hawk territory.  I think I counted nine or ten of them including Squeak:

Squeak

And Miracle (I think that's Killer Jr. in the background):

Three other killdeer.  I think one might be Killer and the others might be the offspring of the "Beautiful Dad":

This one looks like George III:

Fred, the greater yellowlegs, has finally found the killdeers and is happy now:

Unfortunately, the feeling doesn't seem to be mutual on the killdeer's end:

A white pelican visited Lake Murray today, but he didn't seem to be very hungry and looked to be not feeling too good.  I think he might just be tired and needed to rest:

I'm not 100% sure, but I think the faded mallard drake might be one of Indy's brothers:

These might be Indy's other siblings, but no sign of Indy anywhere:

This is the first northern shoveler I've seen at the lake so far this year.  The scaups are starting to come in, too.  But, the only gadwall's I've seen, so far,  are the ones that are at the lake all year-round.

Autumn Day in San Diego

It's a fall day in San Diego, that usually means Santa Ana winds.  But, today, it was partly cloudy and cool.  Big Daddy and the other ducks were busy doing their duck things:

I bet the female redhead that was here all summer is happy there's a male around now:

Lots of ruddy ducks here now.  And, I saw some lesser scaup, too.  Not that many gadwalls, though.

I think this might be Neo, who just turned 6 months old a couple days ago.  He's soon to be the star of his own YouTube slideshow called "Neo, the Duckling that---LIVED!"

This male crested pekin was looking silly running up to me:

Hey guys, wait for me!

No, we are going to swim over here now.

Lots of western grebes kreek kreeking:

And, some killdeer in the ballfield, but I am not sure who they are.  They look like Puffy Band, but one looks a little bit like Miracle.  I think, though, they are not any of the ones I regularly observed:

A dowitcher came to visit

A juvenile long-billed dowitcher came to visit the ballfield killdeer this morning.  I couldn't get too close because the gate was locked, plus I would have scared the birds.

George III was there and he seemed to not know what to make of the dowitcher.

George had a cute young female with a puffy chest band with him.  Perhaps he finally has a mate now.  He was mate-less all of last year.

She seemed to be a little scared of the dowitcher, but not much.

I couldn't get any more photos of the dowitcher, he kept putting his head under his wing and going to sleep.

I'm not sure who this is in the next photo, it might be the Beautiful Dad, perhaps that female is his daughter:

Too bad I couldn't get a clearer photo of this Anna's hummingbird and the gnats:

Fred the yellowlegs was flying around calling.  He circled me many times before flying off.  He likes to be near the killdeer and I think he was looking for them as well as others of his own kind.

Some old favorites return

Some old favorites are being seen at the lake right now.  First, here is George III, whom I last saw following Junior and his mate around a few months back;

I think this might be Squeak, who has been missing for a very long time.  I can see her little "bow tie" on her forehead.

I am fairly sure the one on the right is Dee, Killer's mate.  I think Killer was there, too.  The one on the left looks to be a young male killdeer, perhaps George IV, her son, or another son.

Don't know who this next one is, but it might be Pollux's son:

Hurt wing is alive and well, she's about 16 months old now and has had a broken wing for about 13 or 14 months:

Louie and Picked On"

Jill and her Canada gander mate:

Pat, the bi-gender duck:

And, three young ducks.

I don't think I've seen George and Martha lately, but I'm not sure.  And, Fred the greater yellowlegs is back and was calling for all his friends.

Counting day!

It's counting day at Lake Murray again.  Here are some photos to start you off.  We have killdeer activity, I think Killer and Dee may have returned, but I am not sure.  Everyone is looking for a mate except the adults.

In these next photos, I think one of the killdeers is Pollux, one is an unknown male, and one might be Smudge or Peanut.

The male on the top of the rock got excited and tried to do a nest scrape when the killdeer on the lower rock turned around.

I think that is Pollux threatening the strange killdeer.

Miracle and Little Miracle where not far away, waiting for the males to tell them to come back.  Here is Little Miracle.

And, I think this is Miracle, or the other way around.  They look a lot alike.

This is Smudge:

These are juveniles, looks like a male and a female.  Could be Peanut and her brother, or could be two new killdeer, most likely siblings:

I am not sure who this is, but it might be Killer Junior.  However, he looks a lot like Surprise whom I haven't seen in a long time.

Plenty of white-crowned sparrows now and yellow-rumped warblers.

The dumped ducks haven't lost any more from their group in the last couple of days.  They seem to be getting less afraid of everything.

They even came on shore to see if they could get a treat.

Here is one of the crested ones.  All three of the crested ones have lost a lot of feathers in their crest since they arrived.

This duck looks a lot more like Indy than the other one last week. He even has little scars on the same leg that Indy had the hooks attached to.  One of his feet had a blister or scar where one of the hooks was. So, this is most likely Indy and not the other one.  He seemed very tired today.

Indy's siblings were hanging out in their old area.  I think the one in front is Sweetie and the other is one of Indy's brother.  Indy's other brother was just out of the photo:

Also, I saw "Puffy Head" today.  he was back with Donald and Buffy2 in their usual spot.

Here's how the count went:

Species	Count
Canada Goose	3
Gadwall	2
American Wigeon	9
Mallard	139
Mallard (Domestic type)	47
Ruddy Duck	7
California Quail	20
Pied-billed Grebe	6
Western Grebe	8
Double-crested Cormorant	8
Green Heron	4
Turkey Vulture	3
Osprey	1
Cooper's Hawk	1
Red-shouldered Hawk	1
Sora	1
American Coot	1005
Killdeer	14
Western Gull	25
California Gull	5
Forster's Tern	3
Rock Pigeon	72
Mourning Dove	20
Anna's Hummingbird	68
Belted Kingfisher	3
Nuttall's Woodpecker	6
Black Phoebe	9
Cassin's Kingbird	5
American Crow	8
Bushtit	84
Bewick's Wren	1
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher	2
California Gnatcatcher	2
European Starling	2
Common Yellowthroat	6
Yellow-rumped Warbler	27
California Towhee	8
Song Sparrow	17
White-crowned Sparrow	52
Red-winged Blackbird	31
Western Meadowlark	1
Brewer's Blackbird	3
Great-tailed Grackle	65
House Finch	115
Lesser Goldfinch	50
Nutmeg Mannikin	10