RIP Disappearing Ducklings

Sadly, one of the black crowned night herons found the ducklings and even grabbed one right in front of me. He just wouldn't go away. So, ducklings have been disappearing all morning. Soon, there will be none. That's why I like to get out there as much as possible to photograph them.

Peaches had abandoned her ducklings for over 20 minutes and I was watching them when I saw the heron. I couldn't get him to leave.

The last photo of all four together taken about five minutes before the heron got one of them.

This is the heron actually stalking the ducklings before he grabbed one right in front of me:

The final three. Squinty Eye is the one on the right:

The last 2:

One of the last ducklings:

The smallest duckling:

The final 2 after they were, again, abandoned for over 20 minutes:

The six from the other mother this morning:

There were five when I saw them later, but then they were going around the reeds and disappeared. I saw a cormorant in the area, but I didn't see him do anything. When the ducklings reappeared, there were only four left.

The heron stalking the final five ducklings of the other mother:

The four remaining after I left. This mother, however, has been more attentive and has even been fighting off the heron:

Also seen at the lake were these doves who were watching the last five ducklings with me:

Squeaky's mallard boyfriend still hangs out with the other male Pekins even though Squeaky is gone:

The goslings:

Gaddy the gadwall returns

I was thinking of Gaddy the beautiful gadwall this morning and how I hadn't seen him for a while.  But, he showed up for me.  Gaddy was one of two gadwall ducklings hatched at the lake and he lives there all year around.  I think his sister, though, took off with a male mallard as I haven't seen her since last fall.  Gaddy is molting and he doesn't look as cute as he did when he molted last year.

I threw in this photo of Bumblefoot who is still alive and still in pretty bad shape.  I hope she heals more.

 Canal Mama is doing well with her four ducklings, but they were not in the canal, but out on the lake.

Fish Food Mama's ducklings are getting their wing feathers.  I only saw 7 of them, but I'm sure the rest were there, hiding.  They should be able to fly in a couple of weeks.

I saw this mother with 9 tiny ducklings, a day old.

She was not doing a very good job of organizing them and made very little vocalizations.

Unfortunately, while I was there, two gulls made several attempts at grabbing one of her ducklings.  I managed to shoo the gulls away, but after I left, I saw them attack again, but didn't get any.  The mom seemed to be clueless about the gulls.

I think this mama lost all her ducklings to gulls last year in another area.  At least she tried to raise them in a different area this year.  But, I don't expect these ducklings to survive.  None of the ducklings in this area have survived so far.  The only ducklings that seem to survive are the ones with very organized, bossy mothers.

She even led the ducklings right up to this night heron.  But, at the time, I think he just wanted to sleep.

The osprey chicks are just about ready to fly off.  Their parents are trying to coax them from the nest.  One seems interested.

And, finally, I have to say "good-bye" to Big Daddy.  Here's his last photo, taken while he was sick early in April.  He seemed to get better and disappeared a couple weeks later, most likely with the other males in his group. I suspect he got too weak and curled up in the brush or reeds and died.  He's been gone before, but never for a month or more.  He was there at least four years.   I also said "good-bye" to several other ducks such as Cinnamon's Twin's Twin, the crested rouen, and the "little girl" pekin duck that the males beat up.

Chollas Lake.

A buff duck at Chollas Lake

Today, I wanted to do a little bird counting for the Great Backyard Bird Count, so I went to Chollas Lake and just counted around the small lake for a half an hour.  

Here are some of the domestic drop-offs there:

The next photo is of Guido.  If you call him, he will come up to you.

This runner duck was limping:

Saw a black-crowned night heron:

And, the merlin checking out all the lesser goldfinches and yellow-rumped warblers there:

Stop throwing rocks for Pete's sake!!

Today was a sad day for the family of four coots near the end of Padre Bay at Lake Murray. They were doing perfectly well, both chicks strong and loud. But, a great blue heron began stalking them right after dawn. Then, he got one of the two chicks (the smaller one) and flew off.

Their last surviving baby

All the killdeer are fine. Just about all of the ones at the lake are juveniles from this year. I thought I only counted six today, but I may have heard Killer Jr. near the ballfields. The adults have completely disappeared.

Bob the sandpiper's baby was feeding in her territory. You can tell it's a baby by the way the feathers look on the wings and it's shorter tail. She's still downy, too. I took this before dawn, that's why it's dark:



I took this photo of Pepper today, he's looking great and I love the green-black feathers on his back:



And, here is a juvenile black-crowned night heron:



A rant about rock throwing:

I've been seeing less rock throwing at Lake Murray lately and it makes my visits there much more enjoyable not to see stuff like that happening. But, still, there are lots of kids who throw rocks and parents who actually throw rocks with them. Today was another day where ducks were actually hit by rocks thrown by kids and this time their parent/guardians thought it was funny. I had spoken to these people before because their kid was running around chasing the ducks, including Doodle, who is very sick right now. The adults did absolutely nothing about it.

It is not lake staff's job to act as rangers and they are often not around to stop these people. I am very tempted to start filming/photographing people who are harassing and throwing rocks at the ducks at the lake and parents do nothing to stop or think it's funny. I may start posting their photos here. This also includes people who let their dogs chase the animals, too. I'm not sure if I'm going to do it, but I'm thinking about it. I may also take photos of license plates, too.

Throwing rocks at animals is not cute or funny!

Another warning: I have heard from many people who visit the lake who are very tempted to physically hurt people who do this.

Everyone is growing up!

More ducklings have hatched and all of Peaches' and some of Caramel's ducklings have made it to about 4 weeks old, save the ones that they stole from Butterscotch, who are three weeks.

7 ducklings

Pepper and the gray duckling

Pepper

Also, three of the four killdeer chicks from the M6 parents have been seen flying. The smallest chick, Pollux, has not been seen, yet, but may be nearby.

Castor

Squiggy

Spike

Killer was having an argument with another killdeer that looked a little bit like his brother, Tiny:



Junior was courting his mate by scraping a hole in the ground right in the middle of where people, dogs, ducks, crows, and seagulls all walk! In fact, two people with dogs walked right through his nest scrape. I hope this is only a courtship scrape and not a real nest scrape:



So many new ducklings today. Ducky's girlfriend was seen with some little ones. First, she was seen with only one. Later, she was seen with two more.



And, here's a mom with about a dozen new ducklings. I couldn't get a photo of all of them:



The mom who had started with four, then had three, and now one was seen with her one duckling. It's entirely possible, with all the new mothers around, that the other two may have gone off with another brood:




One heron chick has fledged, the other is still waiting his turn. But, his sibling visits the nest now and then.



I found a surprise today, a juvenile black-crowned night heron:



The sad thing was that there was a small, dead, wet duckling nearby. I don't know if this heron was the reason why it was dead or if it was carried there by something else. The poor little duckling had been dead for a while and was emaciated. It looked like it had never eaten anything. His eyes were closed and one leg was stretched out. I suspect he may have died from drowning or hypothermia and was picked out of the water by either the heron or the nearby seagulls.