Fat Sandpipers, Domestic Ducks and RIP Mr. Squeaky

I haven't been doing a whole lot of photos lately, but here are a few that I've done in the last month. 

I did my yearly bird watch around the Bayshore Bikeway on New Year's Day. I saw a lot of stilts, some of which were having a bath party right in front of me.

I think some birds are getting ready for migration. There must be a good insect population this year because I found this extremely chubby spotted sandpiper at Lake Murray. She looked like a little tennis ball:

A horned grebe showed up at Lake Murray and stayed a while:

Grumpy, the outcast Canada goose is actually starting to look like a girl. He still has a boy voice, though. He will be two years old this spring. His goose manners have improved and he's starting to socialize a little bit with the other Canada geese.

Ming-Ming says hello and asks "where are the girls?"

Here is a photo of Sissy, the buff duck:

Here is Sissy and Pumpkin with Buff:

The two new girls that were dumped last month. The brown and white duck that was with them disappeared after New Year's. A gray duck that was with Sissy and Pumpkin also disappeared. Uno, who also lived in that area has disappeared as well. No sign at all of them. All, except Uno, cannot fly.

Snowy ate a fishing worm the other day. I hope it doesn't kill him. I think that as long as it doesn't have any hooks in it, he will be OK:

There's a new Muscovy girl swimming around with the new geese. I'm betting she's from the same owner as the geese. I wish they'd stop dropping their pets there. The geese have already had problems getting caught with fishing line and hooks.

Finally, we say goodbye to Mr. Squeaky, the Pekin. He used to hang out with Mr. Pekin and the duck with the bad arthritis. For some weird reason, he decided to go off on his own last week. I saw him far from where the rest of the ducks. He looked very sad and was possibly not feeling well. He didn't seem to be looking for anyone or following a female, which is the usual reason for a male duck breaking away form the group. His adventure didn't last long as coyotes were quick to grab him when they got over to their usual hunting area. He had never been there before. 

I thought he had been at Lake Murray for a year and a half, but I actually don't think he's been there much more than a year. He was the youngest of the Pekins. His mate, Squeaky, was rescued last year.