Lake Murray to discourage duck feeding

I haven't seen any definite information about it, but rumor is going around that Lake Murray in San Diego is going to start discouraging people from feeding ducks or other wildlife in the future. The claim is that the feeding is attracting rats, mice and seagulls.

Here is my opinion and observations on this issue:

I think they should continue with the morning feedings with Bill and the pre-dawn feeders at each end of the lake. If anyone asks why they are allowed to feed, it can be explained that they are the only ones allowed to do so, or they are the "official" feeders.

The only issue I have with some of the feeding is that the ducks will sometimes go across the parking lot to get more food in the morning. This can cause problems with drivers, especially on weekends. However, it's usually only a very short period in the morning where this is a problem and it quickly dissipates as soon as the feeder leaves the area.

Also, a minor problem is that feeding ducks corn does attract undesirable birds such as crows and grackles. However, the arrival of a recently fledged Cooper's hawk in the morning has put a damper on these pests. The only problem is that the hawk also likes other, more friendly, birds, too and you can't tell him which birds he can hunt and which ones he can't.

In the morning, I don't see any problems with the regular feeders that are there now who feed the birds birdseed and duck food or vegetables. However, I do notice that bread feeding at other times of the day, by the general public, has gotten out of control. I don't seem to remember so many people feeding the birds bread as there are now in all the years I've been going to this lake. Later in the day, I do notice that there are more seagulls and grackles than in the morning, when I see very few.

I do the bird counts at this lake once a month at the same time of day the feedings go on and see no increase in any one particular species. In fact, ducks have gone down in number, probably due to migration and construction. Coots have dramatically gone up for the same reason, but they are the only true increase I've seen recently of regular year-round species. I have also seen very few rats or mice at the lake.

There are several ducks that will probably starve or struggle if they don't get regular food. Ducks like Curly, the duck with half his upper bill deformed can't feed all day and he is already underweight. Bill said he was starving when he found him and it might be his end if he can't be fed. Also, Tom the Muscovy would have a hard time with getting enough food as he is sight impaired. The geese, also, may go hungry.

Feeding the ducks also helps monitor the progress of ducklings and makes it easier to see ducks who have been injured by fishing line or hooks. It is our responsibility to help birds harmed by human activities. If we didn't feed them, at least once a day, we would not see how many need help.

I usually don't think that people should feed wildlife as it can cause them to be dependent and attract nuisance animals or encourage aggression. But, I don't see a problem with the regular morning feeders. I do think that feeding bread should be discouraged and perhaps that's a place to start. I'm sure there will be people who will still feed the ducks bread or try to sneak-feed them, but if they want to curtail the feeding, they should start there and not with the regular feeders.

Another thing they can do is install pellet stations for people to buy healthy food for waterfowl that pest birds don't like. It might, at least, curtail the bread and "trash food" feeding that is, most likely, the problem.

That's my opinion on the issue.

Duck update for Lake Murray

Molting ducks, some adults, some older ducklings

The ducks are molting! Now, I can't tell the difference between the ducklings and the adults as they are all molting and most of them are the same colors! There are a few, mostly the younger ducklings, that you can still tell that they're ducklings, but most of the older ones you can't tell how old they are. All the surviving ducklings that I know of at Lake Murray are 8 to 16 weeks old (there are a few broods that would be about five to six weeks old, but I haven't seen them lately. Even they would blend in well.). The 8 week olds and younger are still easy to pick out, but anything older, especially flying ducklings, are more difficult. Adult males are entering the "Eclipse" phase where they look like juveniles or large females. This is good, it allows the ducklings born over the summer to stay out of the mating frenzy and keeps them from being mated too soon.

Update on the injured duckling/duck



I went over and tried to find the injured duck that I saw last Sunday. I did find one duck with an unusable leg on the shore. He was standing on one leg, preening himself and seemed OK except for that one leg. He let me get really close before he stumbled into the water and swam away. He looked like an older duckling, but may actually be an older adult duck named "Sir Francis Drake" entering his Eclipse phase. Sir Francis also had a hurt left leg and recently was caught and a wire removed from his leg. He seemed pretty OK otherwise.

Perhaps the injured duckling is actually a molting adult male. However, the duck I saw on Sunday was really bad off and couldn't stand on either leg. Plus, he couldn't fly. Sir Francis Drake can fly, but he may not have been able to do that during the molt. But, I think Sir Francis has a bright yellow bill and this duck has a green bill with a little blue and orange showing up. As far as I know, only young ducks have a green bill. I will have to do some research on this.

"Sir Francis Drake" before the wire was removed from his leg

In any case, I didn't see any other injured ducks today.

Killdeer update:

George and Martha were not seen or heard today. There were 4 pairs of killdeer in one ballfield plus Mary. I think there might have been a few more in the other ballfields, but it may have been the killdeer shifting around because the starlings were flying from field to field being bullies. I thought I heard the M6 dad or his chick calling. At 4.5 weeks old, the chicks should have a voice almost as loud as an adult.

Also seen:

A turkey vulture, probably looking for dead animals/ducks or live chicks.



And, a mottled black and white duck. I think this duck was part Indian runner. Maybe the other part was related to the Muscovy duck in the area.

Older duckling in trouble!

An older duckling, similar to this one, is in trouble and needs help

When I went to Lake Murray today, all seemed fine except George was not at Alvarado Bay when I first arrived. All the ducks and geese were coming across the bay in preparation of being fed and the Muscovy came out of the water to greet me, but didn't wag his tail like he did last time. I walked across the parking lot to the other area and saw more ducks, but no George.

As I was beginning to walk away, I saw one of the older ducklings (about eight or nine weeks old) struggling to get on his feet. One leg seemed to be completely pinned against his body and the other one didn't look too good. I thought I could catch him as he was totally struggling to get up and into the water, but he made it into the water and swam too far out before I could do so. His one "good" leg was totally struggling. But, otherwise, he seems healthy. I think some fishing wire got caught around both his feet. Hopefully, he can be caught and the wire removed before a predator gets him or he starves as he can't get all the food he needs unless he can walk and/or dabble.

Even though the duckling has most of his flight feathers, he still doesn't seem to be able to fly or know how, yet. I didn't see him a couple hours later, so maybe someone caught and removed the wire. At his age, he will heal fast if he's caught early enough. All the other ducks there seemed fine when I came back, but this duckling may have chosen to sleep in the water instead of on land. I didn't get a photo of him because I was more concerned about catching him than taking a photo of his suffering.

There are a lot of people at this lake who watch out for birds in this situation and try to help. I've seen at least one other duck live months with wire around his leg. It's unfortunate that such a young duck, who doesn't seem to be able to fly, yet, has to go through this.

So, if you're at Murray near the parking lot on the north side, bring your wire clippers if you catch this guy. I have posted a photo of a similar-looking duckling at the top of the blog.

"Chickeater," the juvenile seagull that I saw eating a chick a while back, was eying that lame duck. I told him to leave him alone and he proceeded to go for a swim around the area, seemingly following me around. I think he was looking for me to feed him. He went to a bunch of grebes and coots, then to Padre point where he swam around, possibly looking for bread or baby birds.

"Chickeater" decides to go for a swim around the lake.

Killdeer Update:

Mary was seen at the ballfield with six other adult killdeer. She seems to be the odd killdeer out. All those other killdeer are paired up, but one male seems to like her, but the other female probably won't let them pair up. She will have a better chance of getting a mate during migration season when the other killdeer in the north migrate back to the area in a couple of months.

"Beautiful Dad" (The M6 dad of Digger and Shy) was heard doing alarm calls near the benches in the closed area when a fishing boat came close to that shore.

George was seen in Alvarado Bay, I think. I saw a male resembling George in his feeding area. I couldn't see all of his breast-band, but I'm pretty sure it's him. He was very calm and let me get really close. Someone left some trash candles on the beach and I think he was hoping that was bread topped with ants. I was afraid he or the ducks would get sick, so I removed as much of it as I could. I don't think any of them will accidentally ingest that and there's no young chicks or ducklings around to try and eat it.

George hangs out with the sleeping ducks