Lesser goldfinches and sick ducks

Early Christmas morning brought lesser goldfinches.  This male wasn't afraid of me at all:

These females weren't afraid of me either, until the sunshade on my camera fell off and they flew away, but the male stayed and called for them.

This duck has a very cute bill.  I've never seen a bill marked like that.  I think she's a young duck.  I was sitting down and she walked right behind me and chattered away.

For the last few days, I've been getting help for this crested pekin female.  I was told she might have ascites, or water on the belly.  The first day I saw her in trouble, she was very sleepy and looked sick.

When I saw her yesterday, she looked a bit better, but was still struggling.  I did see her run out of the water when someone brought some food.  However, someone said she suddenly started limping and then collapsed on her belly and scooted herself back into the water.  When I saw her, she was acting like something was wrong with her legs, but got better as she continued swimming.  She also put her wings and tail back into normal position for a moment.

If it's ascites, she will NOT get better and will die within days.  If it is not, then I don't know.

Update:  It took me a while to get some help for her, but she was rescued on 12/29!  She is said to be extremely thin, but other than something being wrong with her leg, she seems to be OK.

Across the lake from that duck, I thought that this female on the left had a bad bumble on her foot.  If she does, she may also die from that and, perhaps, infect the other ducks.  That's her mate on the right:

Someone said that might not be a bumble, but a callous.  It's making her limp, but she seems to be a very happy girl and in love with her mate.

I'm sad to report that this small duck who has been at the lake for several years is either sick or injured.  He was fine a week or two ago.  He is acting normally, but is all hunched over.  He might have been attacked by a larger duck or even a predator.  I don't know how old he is, but he might recover.  He's probably a call duck mix and is just about the smallest mallard-derived duck at the lake.

Famosa Slough

Not much going on at Famosa Slough, just a few stilts, Forster's terns, and ruddy ducks.

Here are some stilt pictures:

And, I think this might be a juvenile or female lesser goldfinch.  I couldn't get a good look at the front of it:

Great Backyard Bird Count; RIP Buffy

Buffy

Today is the first day of the Great Backyard Bird Count, 2011 and I was out counting birds at Lake Murray.  Unfortunately, I found out that someone found Buffy near death early this morning.  He died shortly afterward.  His last photo is posted above.  For the last two weeks, he was treated like an outcast by his own offspring and group that he's been a member of for about two years.  He was also very friendly towards me and started following me around when I visited the last couple times.  There must have been something wrong with him or he might have been sick.   He acted like he was very hungry and I don't think he ever learned to properly forage.  I'm sorry he had to spend his last days alone and lonely.  I also usually start my walks near where he is, but didn't today, so I didn't get to see him one last time.

The next photo is of three ducks that were dropped off in October, I think.  They're doing well, but they want nothing to do with any other ducks.  The males don't even want other females who seem to flirt with them.

Quacker ran up to see if I had any treats:

The lesser scaup are venturing close to shore, looking for handouts.  They usually do this time of year right before they migrate.  They almost never come on land because they are severely boat shaped and can't walk right when they do.  Their legs are placed far to the back unlike the mallard-type ducks:

I thought this was a gadwall until I looked more closely at the photo.  There were two wigeons in severe molt.  

Finally got some wood ducks counted.  This looks like Doodle's Placekeeper"

This one looks like Doodle's bully:

Doodle's Placekeeper and a female:

Here's a bufflehead, the only one left at the lake:

Big Daddy (AKA Cinnamon, Paprika):

This next duck is one I don't think I've ever seen before.  She was pretty friendly and quacked a lot, but wouldn't let me get too close.  Her wings are kinda messed up.  I sure hope she wasn't released her before she was able to fly.  I am a little concerned about her.

I had to take this picture of a common yellowthroat through a fence.  There were more than usual today:

Lesser Goldfinch:

And, from my house, the two baby hummingbirds!  One of them was practicing his flying yesterday.

Uh oh, the killdeer are thinking of nesting in the ballfields again.  I sure hope they don't.  I think this is the M6 mom and dad.

My first Audubon bird walk

Today, I did my first Audubon bird walk in Tecolote Canyon.  Many of the birds were small and were far away, so I didn't get many good photos.  We saw Cooper's hawks, red-tailed hawks, red-shouldered hawks, California thrashers, California towhees, lesser goldfinches, say's phoebes, and many more.  Here are a few photos I took that came out presentable.

First, a pretty flower, I think it's a primrose:

A lesser goldfinch:

And, two photos of California thrashers:

I had one of a Say's Phoebe and Northern Flickr, but they weren't that great.

More ducklings!

Pepper

The boat dock ducklings are all doing very well! However, we are having a very cold and wet storm passing through right now. Currently, the oldest ducklings are just under 3 weeks old and just starting to get feather shafts and are already producing oil. The younger ducklings are about 2 weeks old and one family is about one week old. I am not worried about the one week olds as they can be warmed up by their mom. But, the 7 large ducklings may have trouble keeping warm during the next two days because they're too big to fit under their mom. I hope they will all be OK.

Anyway, here are a few duckling photos:

Caramel still has three of her own ducklings and 1 of Butterscotch's ducklings:



One of the tiniest 5 day old ducklings:



All the following photos are of the 7 ducklings that Peaches is taking care of:







The two Chinese ganders are being constantly harassed by the Canada gander who chased them all the way to the other side of the parking lot:



The ring-billed gull was being harassed by the crows:



And, here's a shot of a lesser goldfinch. I still haven't been able to photograph the robin nearby.





Killdeer chick update:

I did not see any of the killdeer chicks, but I thought I heard Spike and maybe Squiggy in the same general area that I've always seen them. But, I think the other two are nearby. I hope to see them in a few days when they should be flying.

The Birds!!!!!

A bunch of finches sitting on the TV antenna. Most are house finches some are lesser goldfinches. I used a little fill-flash to bring out the colors as they were originally in silhouette.

Goldfinches Everywhere!

I went out to the mission dam area of Mission Trails Regional Park yesterday and I found a spot along the riverbed that had lots and lots of goldfinches flying all around. I even saw several down at the creek drinking all at once. Not just American goldfinches, but lesser goldfinches, too. Here is a picture of a lesser goldfinch that I got from Wikipedia commons and Attis1979:

Here is the area of the park where I saw all the finches:


I also saw at least one black phoebe and I think I saw a Say's Phoebe, too, but I'm not sure. Here is a photo of it:

I saw a similar bird at SDSU. Both had yellow bellies underneath, especially near the tail. It also lifts up it's head feathers in a similar fashion as the black phoebe. But, I think it might be too brown to be a Say's Phoebe unless it was immature. It may be something like a vermilion flycatcher or some other bird in the flycatcher family.

On the way back to my car, I saw a man photographing this phainopepla nest with chicks in it. I got to see the parents feeding them. Very cute.