Updates and Alaska Trip

I've been very busy lately,  but I did take some bird pictures. I haven't been keeping a whole lot of track of the ducks at the lake. Several have gone missing. For example, I haven't seen the puffy-headed pekin and his girlfriend for a while. Also, we've had several really young ducklings dumped which didn't make it. There are a couple of new domestic ducks, too, including a Muscovy hybrid (Mulard).

New Moulard at the Lake

Miss Half-Face showed up again this year with what looks like a bad infection. I'm not sure, but I think someone finally caught her. I haven't seen her in a while.

Miss Half-Face

Also,  I went to Cordova, Alaska for their Copper River Delta shorebird festival. Here are some of the pictures I took of the town and the birds. Most of the birds were the same as they are around San Diego, but in their breeding colors.

Mount Eyak

Not sure which mountain this is.

Hartney Bay with geese

Greater white-fronted geese

Off the Henly Trail

Henly Trail easy part

Western and least sandpiper with a few dunlin

Snow geese

Whimbrels and peeps

Hartney Bay in the mountin

Hartney Bay in the evening

Bald eagle hanging out in the neighborhood

At the lake,  two broods of Canada geese have arrived so far. There's been a few broods of ducklings, but not a whole lot. Grey Babba seems to have taken a new wife, but she has a wandering eye, so I am not sure if that marriage is going to last.

Blonde duck also has a new dumped girlfriend of his very own.

Ah, Spring is for Ducklings

Though I haven't been at Lake Murray the last few days, when I last saw them, these three ducklings were still plugging along. Each day their mama was taking them on longer and longer distances, even going beyond the fence line. They were constantly moving. On the last day I saw them, I believe she had taken them out of the area. This was her same pattern the last two years. If you haven't seen them, it's possible they are no longer visiting the parking lot area regularly. You may go a while without seeing them and depending on the time of day you visit, you may not see them again until they're fully feathered.

Meanwhile, Miss Una has done what was expected and moved her ducklings down to the other end of the lake. She managed to keep two of them so far. Last time I saw her, she was being hassled by the drakes. I only could truly see one duckling, but I think I saw the other one duck in the reeds.

Miss Una's mother was last seen with three ducklings. The next day, I saw two all by themselves without their mother. However, as I was watching them, they completely disappeared. There were no predators in the area. I saw a woman bending down at the water's edge, but I think the ducklings were not nearby, and even if they were, they would not be easy to catch.

Sadly, after my last post with the gosling photos, Squeaker's little baby disappeared.

Other birds are still hanging around and should be migrating soon. This is an eared grebe in breeding plumage.

Least sandpipers visiting:

There is a female spotted sandpiper being rather co-operative. A male is hanging out nearby and they may be bonded mates or a new mate for her to travel back to the breeding areas with.

Duck Rescue:

Last Sunday, I came across these two Cayuga ducks hiding in the brush near the front entrance. They were dehydrated and very hungry. The female was in distress as well. I was going to introduce them to the water, but decided that, since there was a female and they tend to die real fast here, I would catch both and take them with me to see if I could find a home for them. 

The male is extremely gorgeous with a LOT of green. This photo does no justice to his gorgeous colors. He was quite the gentleman to his girlfriend and his personality was mellow as is common for the breed. The female duck was a diva and made lots of demands with me. She would scream unless you made her happy. Then, she would be very quiet. Because I live in an apartment with a strict no pets policy, and I have allergies, I couldn't keep them. So, I took them to the animal shelter. After a five-day hold (for health and to give the owner a chance to come get them), they were put up for adoption. They were adopted within hours of being listed.

They left me an egg as a present.

Famosa Slough and Killdeer Land

Famosa Slough is a great place to see a variety of birds and even a few uncommon or rare birds. It's right there in the middle of Point Loma, so you don't have to drive far to see them.

First, a bunch of dowitchers flying away. There's always dowitchers flying around there. I believe these are short-billed dowitchers. However, your eBird list will be flagged if you identify them as such as they're very hard to tell apart from the long-billed dowitchers in winter.

A pair of mourning doves on a branch. The dove at the top eventually walked down and stroked the back of the other dove before pecking him to move.

Stilts, avocets, willets and yellowlegs:

One of the stilts:

Blue-winged teal:

American wigeon:

Famosa Slough is basically killdeer land in winter. There were probably a few hundred of them in there, watching me.

Spotted Sandpiper and Avocets

I haven't been taking a lot of pictures at Lake Murray, lately, but I did see this very friendly spotted sandpiper about two weeks ago. I think it's a male because he's small and slim. He was eating up flies like crazy.

I also saw some visiting American avocets on another morning. They're not rare, but don't visit the lake all that often.

New Baby Ducks at Lake Murray, Today's Picture 5/25/2016

Today's picture is of a new set of ducklings in the same area where Miss Una and her mother kept their ducklings until they went somewhere else. This may be Miss Una's aunt. In case you're wondering, Miss Una's mom and aunt are probably direct descendants of Fish Food Mama who is also mother to Peaches, Butterscotch, Caramel, Pepper, Indy and about 30 other adult ducks at Lake Murray.

Miss Una's mom and aunt are likely two of the 10 ducklings Fish Food Mama successfully raised in 2013. All the females in that brood look very similar to each other and a lot like their mom.

Least Tern, Picture of the Day 05/24/16

Today's picture of the day is of a least tern that was flying around at the Tijuana River Natural Estuarine Research Reserve down by the border near Imperial Beach. I took this on International Migratory Bird Day on May 14th. The least terns nest in this area and this adult was looking for small fish in the river area. It was a cloudy day.

Update on the ducklings in the last post: Unfortunately, they were all gone within a couple of days. 

Duckling update at Lake Murray for the last few weeks

Instead of posting duckling updates over and over, I decided to put the last few weeks of ducklings together all in one post.

Mom and One Duckling:

First up is a mom of a single duckling I first saw on June 16th. A crow tried to grab it, but I shooed the crow away. Later, I didn't see him and feared he had been eaten shortly after I walked away. Then, I saw the same mom and duckling three days later. He also disappeared soon after I saw him and I haven't seen him or his mother since.

The Uneaten Ducklings:

The story behind these ducks is that one of the western gulls was intensely watching this family of four, but I managed to steer him towards a couple of dead fish nearby. Once he discovered and began feeding on the fish, the ducklings passed by without harm. However, a few days later, there were only two. But they may not have been eaten by the gulls. Mama duck has a habit of taking them back and forth across the lake. I'm thinking a fish or cormorant may have gotten them. The other two are still around and growing strong:

The Older Ducklings:

The older ducklings are still plugging along and are just about full grown.  All they need is their primary feathers. They are almost the same size of the adult ducks.

New Littles:

These ducklings just showed up a few days ago. The mother started with six, then she had five. Today, I didn't see her at all:

Goslings:

All the goslings have grown up and are flying, including the youngest one:

In Memorium:

Sadly, the three ducklings that were in the last post were all eaten by the western gull. I tried to dissuade the gull, who caught them by sneaking up on them, but he ate them anyway. 

Also, both Sissy and Pumpkin, the two blonde female ducks, have been missing for a couple of weeks and I'm very concerned. Trouble has been around, but his bill was damaged from what looks like a rock.