A few random bird pics from Lake Murray

Just a few random bird pictures today.  I saw no shorebirds at all, nor have I see the scaup, yet.  I know there are a few down here in the San Diego area, just not at this lake.  However, there are more coots there now that I've ever seen before.

I haven't been taking many pictures because it's been really dark and cloudy in the morning, so the light is bad.

Here is a gull doing a courtship call to another gull a few feet away.

This ring-billed gull has some sort of tumor or weird feather growth.  It doesn't seem to be bothering him and when he shakes his head, it wiggles lightly.  He is full of energy, but it looks like he swallowed a golf ball.

Fancy-foot pigeon.  There were actually a few of them there.  I didn't see the racing pigeon, though I heard there was a strange looking pigeon who died there.  However, the racing pigeon really didn't look all that strange, kinda like this one.

Song sparrow with some kind of insect in its mouth:

Little Trouble:

And, the male ruddy ducks are following around the female teal again:

Redheads!

I heard a strange sound early in the morning that I couldn't figure out.  A little later, I thought I heard what sounded like quail, but it was coming from all over the place.

The sound actually came from the male redhead duck!

Heehuuuahh! Said the male redhead

Female redhead by herself.  She didn't like that male redhead:

Redhead among the coots:

This redhead couple sure were in a hurry to get somewhere:

I think this and another group of redheads were after them.  The males constantly called:

Rubberband and two of her brothers were nearby.  I think her third brother was off on his own, probably because he saw a female he liked.

The blonde duck has been hanging around the boat docks lately:

Pepper was with his brother.  He's so shy.

It's Ducky Time! (and a killdeer)

The ducks are doing well.  The photo above is of mostly domestic ducks such as the Snowies and the crested runner as well as the Snowie's sons.

This photo is of the two buff sisters dumped off recently.

Here's a photo of Bigboi, the Cayuga and Pepper's dad.  He's lived longer than any other dumped duck that I've ever known.  He's been there at least 3.5 to 4 years, perhaps longer.  I estimate his age to be around 4.5 to 5 years old, which is pretty good for a domestic duck living out in the wild, especially one that can't fly and is missing half of a foot.

Bigboi loves the new Cayuga girl dumped off with the buff at the top of the photo.  Unfortunately, non-flying domestic females don't live that long with so many males and I am trying not to get attached to this lovely, sweet girl.

I saw my first lesser scaup this year:

Ruddy ducks are doing well.  Several of the males still have a lot of their breeding plumage with white cheeks.  I think this is a male that has lost most of his breeding colors, but still has semi-bright cheeks.

And, finally, a noisy killdeer who was kill-deeting and flying around claiming territory.  He was a bit afraid of me, so I think he was new.

Red-winged blackbirds and other birds

I took some photos of the juvenile red-winged blackbirds at Lake Murray this morning when it was cloudy.  There were several, both males and females as well as adults.

This little bird was with them, but I don't think it's a blackbird.  I think it's a finch, either house or lesser goldfinch.  Not sure, though.

These two song sparrows were fighting until I turned the camera on them.  Suddenly, they turned shy.

The common gallinule came out in the open and strutted around:

This is Stretch the duckling that was raised in this area near the 2 mile mark.

Big stretch!

This is the "rumpy" duck with no tail:

See?  He does pretty well for himself, though:

Unfortunately, I think Snowie's duckling has passed on.  I saw Snowie and Snowy (her mate) without him.  However, Snowie disappeared soon after I saw them together and her mate went on his own way.  I'm hoping he's in hiding.  But, that duckling was the boss of the two and they were very bonded, so I don't think he would stay in any place without her.

Snowie's last baby

Sadly, Snowie's weak duckling didn't make it through the weekend and now she only has one baby left, pictured above.  But, on the positive side, because mom and sibling don't have to stop foraging and rest so often, the remaining baby is eating voraciously and growing quickly.  He is still about a week behind in growth and may end up being a small adult, if he survives, but he's starting to catch up.

This particular mother doesn't make demands of her ducklings, but, instead, shadows and shows them where to eat, following the duckling's cues as to where he wants to go instead of directing him.  This duckling is beginning to get his smarts and is starting to realize when it's not safe and moving to another area if he's uncomfortable.  He's very healthy, so, hopefully, he'll make it to adulthood.

He looks a lot like his mama.  I'm not sure what breed she is, but she and her mate looks a lot like bantam appleyards mixed with mallards.  At one time, I thought they were snowy mallards or Welsh harlequins, but I can now see the appleyard in them.  But, the babies definitely have a lot of mallard in them, too.

This is dad and he's not interested in mom or babies anymore because his hormones have begun to diminish.  Right now, he wants to groom his new feathers coming in:

The baby coots were nearby making calls.  I rarely ever see their parents around.  They sometimes fight with each other.

This is a juvenile pied-billed grebe sunning himself on a rock.  Mom was nearby.

For all you perching bird fans, here's a very territorial and aggressive hooded oriole.  He does NOT like the grackles, which are potential chick eaters.  That could be why no grackles or other blackbirds are breeding in this particular tree this year.

I didn't see any females around, but I'm sure his aggressive displays are to show any prospective females, hiding nearby, what a good protector and father he is.

I think we need loads more of him and kingbirds to keep the grackles and crows in check.

I think this might be Gaddy's (the gadwall's) sister.  I haven't seen her in a long time, I think she left the lake to breed somewhere else.  She was laying funny in the water when I first saw her, so I hope she's OK.  She also might be an early migrating female and not a native of the lake at all.

If she's the native girl, I can see that she still likes the mallard boys.  I wonder if she had any hybrid ducklings:

Killdeer are back and other birds

The killdeers have begun to make their appearance again.  However, I don't know who, exactly, these guys are.  I'm thinking they're the Beautiful Dad or Shy's offspring as they look real young.  These next two look a little like Pollux and his son:

There were three other killdeer there, too, but I can't identify them:

Another youngster:

In George's territory, an adult male patrols a certain spot.  I don't recognize him.  He appears to be mature and almost looks like a fat version of George:

I think this might be Smudge and her young companion, but I'm not sure.

Running:

They headed over where the single male is and Smudge's boyfriend chased off the single male:

But, Smudge disappeared, so he looked all over for her.  I have no idea where she went.

I'm not sure, but this might be Ducky or Ducky's girlfriend's brother.  He's been fighting, I see:

Bigboi and the other domestics were found in a weird spot near these reeds away from shore.  I've never seen them there, ever.  It could be because the predators are more active and it's been cold.

Hiding in the reeds.  The buff was there, too, but was out of the frame:

The nine dumped ducks are doing OK for now.

Oreo is just not himself and is just wandering around aimlessly even though Cinnamon and her males have accepted him into their group.  All he wants to do is honk-whistle and do courtship behaviors and contests with the other males. Cinnamon's boyfriends have no reason to do courtship behaviors with him as they all already know their ranking with her and know who her #1 male is.

There is a male mallard that likes to play with him, but doesn't follow him around like Aflac did. So, Oreo just swims around by himself looking for males who will play his game.  I don't recall him being like that with Aflac or doing courtship behaviors with him like this.

Here are a couple of yellow-rumped warbler pictures:

And a common yellowthroat.  This little guy just kept following me around.  He wouldn't give up and went everywhere I did.