Lake Update, Drizzly Day

The day started out with a California thrasher and what sounded like a black-headed grosbeak.  I couldn't find the grosbeak, but here's a photo of the thrasher:

Pollux and his son were over in Junior's territory harassing Junior's son.  I think this is Pollux, though I'm not sure because he has the chopped-feathered appearance of a juvenile, though those are his markings:

This looks like his son:

And, I think this is Junior's son:

In the ballfields, the Cooper's hawk was making multiple attacks against Killer Junior and Little Miracle.  Here is Killer Junior:

And, Little Miracle:

They were both still OK when I last saw them.

Here is Zippy and Skippy with their mom, Yellowcheeks:

Skippy's bill is turning green like a male's.  Later, he saw some fish jumping around and went to chase them, but didn't catch any.

Cinnamon has the attention of most of the large male ducks at the lake.  Here she is with five of the seven who usually associate with her:

Shy Neo let me take his picture today.  He doesn't like to have his picture taken anymore:

Unfortunately, we may have to say goodbye to the gorgeous blue Swedish duck dropped off last year.  He has been missing for about a week and I saw a pile of feathers across the little bay that look like they might be his.  It's possible a coyote or some other predator carried him off and that could also why Pepper has been hiding a lot, lately.  It's been almost exactly a year since he arrived.  

His friend, this Welsh Harlequin, is the last of the three ducks dropped off last September.  The other was a buff female who died a few months ago.  Now, he is alone.

We also should probably say good -bye to one of Cinnamon's boyfriends, the crested duck in the next photo behind the duck in front with the all gray breast.  He was sick for a long time last April/May and I remember seeing a big pile of feathers in the area where was was convalescing.  However, I wasn't sure if he was really gone as all the ducks were molting and sometimes his crest is not visible when he molts and he disappears in the summer, sometimes.  But, now that the ducks are getting their colors back, I can tell he is gone for sure.  He was actually at least a year older than Cinnamon, perhaps even older, so he did have a long life there.
 

The western grebes are still there.  This one likes to make a krieeeek krieeek sound that's pretty cool:

His two friends are over here:

Indy goes to the wildlife hospital

Someone told me that a certain duck at the lake had a fishing lure stuck to him when I came there to count birds today.  When I looked around, I saw it was Indy, short for Independent Duckling, one of Fish Food Mama's ducklings from back in May.  A fishing lure with two sets of three pronged hooks on each size, similar to this was attached to his legs in several places. He also had a few feet of fishing line attached to the lure that could have injured him even more or, perhaps, strangle him, if we hadn't have caught him. We tried to remove all prongs, but a couple were too deep to get out.  So, instead of risking injuring Indy more, he was crated up and I took him to Project Wildlife:

Indy in his "ambulance"

 Indy seemed to feel a lot better even after removing all the pieces that we could and even got up and moved around in the crate.  He was also very strong and healthy otherwise.  So, barring any broken bones or damaged tendons, I suspect that Indy will be back at the lake with his family in a couple of weeks.

In other duckling news, Zippy and Skippy as well as Yellowcheeks are doing great!  They should be flying in a couple of weeks or so.

And, in killdeer land, guess who this is in the next photo.  It's Miracle's and Killer Junior's baby!  She is so curious, but this makes dad very nervous.

There were dogs outside the ballfield and Killer Junior made sure to sound alarm calls.

I also did a bird count, though it was interrupted because I had to take Indy in to the wildlife hospital.  Here are the results of my monthly count for September at Lake Murray:

Canada Goose  3
Gadwall  1
Mallard  224
Mallard (Domestic type)  31
California Quail  1
Pied-billed Grebe  20
Western Grebe  4
Western/Clark's Grebe  3
Double-crested Cormorant  7
Snowy Egret  1
Green Heron  3
Black-crowned Night-Heron  1
Turkey Vulture  1
Osprey  1
Northern Harrier  1
Cooper's Hawk  1
Red-tailed Hawk  3
American Coot  113
Killdeer  4
Western Gull  32
California Gull  6
Forster's Tern  1
Rock Pigeon  27
Mourning Dove  72
Anna's Hummingbird  50
Costa's Hummingbird  3
Allen's Hummingbird  4
Nuttall's Woodpecker  5
Black Phoebe  8
Cassin's Kingbird  6
Hutton's Vireo  1
Western Scrub-Jay  3
American Crow  3
Common Raven  2
Bushtit  20
Bewick's Wren  2
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  1
California Gnatcatcher  5
Common Yellowthroat  7
Yellow Warbler  2
California Towhee  5
Song Sparrow  25
Red-winged Blackbird  10
Great-tailed Grackle  35
House Finch  40
Lesser Goldfinch  22
American Goldfinch  1

Happy birding!

Peaches and a killdeer chick

I think the duck in the photo above might be Peaches or her daughter.  She has 7 little ducklings on this hot day.  Peaches is the mother of the ducklings that lived under the boat dock last year.  She was not too far away from the docks in this photo.  It's really late in the season for ducklings right now.  But, there is an advantage.  For one, the temperatures are higher, so there's less chance of hypothermia, but that might be a downfall because the ducklings can't regulate their temperatures either way.  Also, the herons are pretty much done with their chicks, so there are less of them around.  And, there are even fewer gulls right now, too.  The pelicans are still a threat, but they weren't around today.

I found the baby killdeer in the ballfields, she was pretty far away for me to take photos of her.  She's beginning to grow now.

There were a lot of starlings and blackbirds all around her, but they didn't attack or bother her or her parents.

Here she is passing by her dad:

The two dumped Pekin ducklings were nowhere to be found.  I'm hoping that they got picked up and taken away and that a predator didn't get them.  I will check, tomorrow, to see if they're still there or if they were just hiding from the sun today.

Happy 4th! And, killdeer chicks and willets.

Little Miracle

Today is the 4th of July at Lake Murray and, usually, they have a big music fest and fireworks on this day.  However, this year, the entire event has been canceled.  An environmental group's lawyer is forcing venues that have fireworks to get an environmental impact report and other permits before they hold more fireworks shows.  Unfortunately, the people running the show and the Friends of Lake Murray feel that the fees are too large for them to afford, so they have canceled the entire event including the Music Fest and Fun Runs.  They are hoping to hold the event next year.  Last year, the Music Fest was canceled due to lack of funds.

I have attended just about every Lake Murray Fest there since 1994 except for a few around 1999-2002, I think (They used to be held in June in the beginning).  I stopped going to the fireworks in 2008 because it just got too crowded with rude people and I couldn't enjoy it.

In the meantime, I found Miracle and one of her chicks running around right exactly where they usually set up the fireworks, yesterday.  In normal years,  July 3rd, this area is closed off to the public and all the pyrotechnics are set up for the fourth.  So, I was lucky to see them this year.  Usually, I don't see them in this area this time of year.

I only saw the one chick, but I think the other chick was hiding.  There were grackles everywhere and the chick even ran up close to them, but they didn't bother her.

Here is one with Miracle, her mom, in the background.

She ran across the road a few times, too!  I tried to watch and make sure she didn't get run over by bikes or the worker's trucks, but decided to leave because I think I was making things worse.  Plus, there was a Cooper's hawk nearby and every time I was there, the parents would start doing calls that the hawk could hone in on.

I sure hope she made it back to the lakeshore OK and that no one bothered her yesterday or today.

Nice and secure under Dad's wing:

Someone thought they could sneak in a couple of rouens there.  These are are newest dumped domestic ducks.  I worry about the female because she can't fly.  Hopefully, her boy will protect her:

We had an unexpected visitor today, a willet:

He seemed very sad, I think he was lost.  He has most of his breeding plumage.  They're supposed to breed up around Montana, Alberta, or Idaho this time of year.

Fish Food Mama's ducklings are two months old now and getting more independent.  However, I think Indy still loves his mama and sticks close to her.

The other four ducklings went off on their own, here is one in the background.   They all got together again, eventually.

They're starting to get their speculum and flying feathers now.  They should be flying in a few weeks.

No sign of the mom who had only four ducklings.  Not only are ducklings having a hard time surviving, but we have lost a good number of coots and baby grebes, too.  I suspect gulls and herons for most of those being missing, but also large fish.  I've been seeing a lot of large bass lately.

Miracle and Killer Jr.'s chicks

When I visited one of the ballfields today, I saw a killdeer doing a broken wing act.  I thought it would be strange for Pollux to be doing a broken wing act when his chicks were full grown.  But, it wasn't Pollux, I think it was Miracle!

I didn't see any chicks when I first passed through, probably because the sprinklers were going.  But, I could hear her "talking" to them.  Later, when I came back, I found two little chicks and dad was "patrolling" an area near some brush, so I think there was at least one or two more in there.  They were so tiny!  In the distance, they look like little balls of fluff:

Here is mom with the two chicks.  The gate was locked, so I couldn't get into the field.  Even if I could, I wouldn't be able to get a great shot because all the birds would have scattered and hid.

I think I saw a boy and a girl chick, but I'm not sure as I couldn't get too close:

In other news, that cute young duck was seen being cute and friendly:

Bossy Mama is down to her last duckling, now about 8 days old:

I still only see one coot chick from the three that I saw earlier.  There was a big turtle nearby, too:

These two coot chicks from the other side of the lake are growing very fast.

I also got a photo of a Clark's grebe.  There were several Clark's grebe and some western grebes there today.

The two brown pelicans are still there.  Fish Food Mama still has her five ducklings.  No sign of the eight ducklings I saw a few days ago.  Hurt wing is still limping very badly, but alive and hungry!  The two sister ducks are also doing well.  I think Neo is doing fine, too, but he is blending in with the other drakes going through eclipse, so I can't pick him out.

A killdeer chick is missing

I only saw two killdeer chicks and they were both out of the open in one of the baseball fields at Lake Murray.  I thought it was the two females, but when I looked closely, I saw it was Smudge and a boy killdeer.  No sign of the female with the long mark on her forehead.  I have no idea where she went, but hope she's just hiding.

Little boy killdeer chick

Smudge

Smudge and her brother in the background

 Smudge doesn't seem to be shy at all.

Squeak and Pollux were both there.  After I left, I could hear them screaming in panic.  I think a hawk or crow might have made its appearance. The screaming didn't last long, but I hope all of them are OK.  I'm sure they left the field and went back down to the water's edge.  Hopefully, they didn't run into any fast cyclists or anything.

Squeak

I saw this mom with one duckling and thought it was the mom that had four, then three, then two and now one.  Last Friday, I saw a gull harassing the mom whom had only two ducklings out of the four original, and I thought that maybe it got one after I left.  But, no, this is a new duckling.  Mom and duckling soon disappeared and went into hiding after I took this photo.  The mom with the two ducklings was seen and both ducklings are OK and doing well.

Mom with new duckling

Mom with four of the five ducklings.  The fifth was off-frame.  They are three weeks old now:

2 ducklings

Indy

Mom was keeping an eye on everything.

This duckling got some algae that was on a piece of fishing line.  But, he got it off him.

All five were out on the land, then, all of a sudden, they all ran to the water all at once.

I also saw the "brown mama" and one of her ducklings was screaming for her.  I didn't see any of the other ducklings, though I did see the mom looking for them.  I think one of the herons got one of her ducklings a week or so ago, but I'm not sure.  It could have also been another female's duckling.  I saw the two, almost grown, ducklings from the 10 that were hatched first this year, too.  I think I might have even seen Neo and his mom sitting under a bush.  I thought I saw Neo on the side of the lake in the same area on Friday.