Faking killdeer

I was working at the least tern management site at Mariner's Point in Mission Bay and there was a killdeer acting like he was sitting on a nest.  I thought it was a female, at first, but now think he's an old male.  I didn't have my camera ready when he suddenly did a broken wing act.

In the end, there were no nests anywhere near where he was and he ended up flying away after an hour or two.

Sitting on his fake nest, watching everyone:

Then, getting up and looking around, trilling sometimes:

Other killdeer watched from a distance:

There was a willet, too:

We were pulling fillaree away from the endangered Nuttall's lotus.  Here's a complete lotus plant:

It's called a lotus because of these flowers:

Famosa Slough and Mariner's Point

Forster's tern

Today, I did two projects with Audubon.  The first was at Famosa Slough getting ready to do nest monitoring this spring.  I took a few photos of the birds that were there.

Least Sandpiper

Dowitchers

Willet

Blue winged teal

Forster's tern

Then, I went over to Mariner's Point in Mission Bay to help remove some invasive weeds before the least terns come to nest.  The killdeer were already there with their nests.  Here is one of the mothers:

Here is another female on her nest.  I was working about 10-15 feet from her and she stayed on her nest pretty much the whole time.

Here she is with her eggs in the background.

This is her with her mate.  When he visited, they mated, so I definitely know that the one sitting on the nest is the mom.

Here is my view of the work area with all the primrose.

This is North America's smallest butterfly, the pygmy butterfly:

This spot had a good sight of the bay.  Here are two California brown pelicans (and a Forster's tern) flying around the point: