End of November

We had a little squall of rain pass through at Lake Murray this morning, but it got better later.  It's supposed to rain a little harder in a couple of days.

This is one of the new killdeer which I think is from the family of three chicks.  He was scared of the camera.  He looks like Killer did when he was his age, so I'm sure he's related.  I think he might be either Smudge's son or Killer Junior's son.

I was surprised to see two white-faced ibises fly by, but they didn't want to land.  I think there were too many people around.  They did circle a bit, looking for a spot, but didn't find any to their liking.

Trouble is now almost indistinguishable from the other male mallards.  Here is a photo of him from a few days ago.  I think I saw him today, too.  He knows his name.

Pumpkin (AKA Big Sissy) is doing a lot better and can be seen all the time with her Sissy.  She's molting really bad now, though.

A new domestic duck was dropped off at the lake a couple weeks ago.

This lucky male bufflehead has four girls in his harem:

There go the beautiful bufflehead girls:

For anyone who was wondering what happened to the gull with a broken wing:  I found out that he was rescued last week.  I don't know if anything can be done for him as it was a bad break which has healed, but I'm hoping he won't be euthanized.

Shorebird counting with PRBO

Today, I did my first official shorebird count with Point Reyes Bird Observatory.  I was paired up with Lynne, who is very experienced at doing this and we went to the east side of Coronado to look for shorebirds.  However, the shoreline there was not very conducive to shorebirds as it's very rocky.  Though, we did find a few.

We surveyed a couple different sections, one north of the ferry landing and one near Glorietta Bay and south of the ferry landing until we got to just past the bridge.

It was a nice, bright, sunny day:

In the first section, all we saw was this little spotted sandpiper.

Up ahead, there was a small roost, but they were outside the study area.  Three sanderlings, some godwits, and a black bellied plover.

At Glorietta Bay, I saw my first Heerman's gull, though gulls were not part of the count:

Lots of grebes of all kinds, but we weren't counting those.  Here's a western grebe:

Lots of buffleheads here:

A few pacific loons (too far away to get a good photo):

This marbled godwit and black bellied plover were very co-operative.  They were located just south of the ferry landing:

The purpose of this census was to check on the population health of various shorebird species.  Many of these birds breed in the far north in areas that are not accessible for research.  It's possible that the warming of the arctic may have an effect on these species' breeding.  So, they are counted while they are in their wintering areas.  

Killdeer, buffleheads and cormorants

Killer (the killdeer). He was chirping for Digger to come follow him.

Today at Lake Murray, I saw Killer and Digger first. However, later, I did not see them on my return.

The young couple, Digger and Killer

In the ballfields, I saw 10 killdeer. I think they're beginning to come back now that construction has quieted down in that area for now. I saw Shy and her mate, her mom and dad, some unknown killdeer, Secret (by himself in another field), Surprise and Suprise's friend. Shy's mate is very aggressive towards her dad unlike George's sons who were young and inexperienced. It appears that Shy has an experienced male for a mate and he got her by standing up to her dad.

I think this is Secret, all by himself

A new killdeer, I don't know who it is, but he's pretty.

On Del Cerro Point, I saw a large flock of doves and blackbirds scattering as well as several ducks. When I went over there to investigate, I saw this juvenile female Cooper's hawk down in the reeds. She flew up to a tree. I wonder what she was trying to catch down there in those reeds.



I saw a lone female bufflehead near the parking lot. Sorry it's blurry, I didn't have my tripod and she was far away.




And, look at all these cormorants! I think I counted 25 just on these wires. I'm surprised the wires didn't fall down, plus it's windy today.



Ducky is missing!

Ducky, AKA the "lost" duckling, has been missing for at least 5 days. It's possible he's still around and I just haven't seen him. His friend is all by himself, pretty much except for his sister. I think Ducky has just decided to change his routine a little. He hasn't been hanging around the picnic tables as much.

Again, sorry for the blurry photo of Ducky's friend.