Here come the migrants!

I've seen many come through from killdeer to ruddy ducks to eared grebes at Lake Murray and other places!

Eared grebes

I got a kick out of this pair with a ruddy duck, still in partial breeding colors, and a little female green-winged teal.  They seemed to really enjoy each other's company and were following each other around.  Then, the teal decided she wanted to be with the mallards and swam towards shore.  The ruddy duck seemed confused for a while and waited in deeper water.  I didn't see if they got back together, later.

Troublemaker is still around and has his wing fathers now, but most of his feathers are fluff.  He seems to like to hang around gadwalls and another group of mallards, but is mostly alone.  Sometimes, his wing feathers look extremely green, but sometimes they're blue like in these photos.

I didn't see him today, but he's been seen all over the lake, so he could be anywhere.

Blue was competing for a new girlfriend and has been seen doing courtship with the other males.  But, not very much lately.  I think he's missing Ducky Ducky:

And, I finally found these guys.  I've been looking for them for months!  Looks like the female survived breeding season.

I think Junior, the killdeer came to visit, but I never was able to get a photo of him.  I've also been seeing spotted sandpipers more and lots more coots.  There was one baby coot, but he has disappeared for n ow.

More migrants

Now that hunting season has begun, I'm seeing more migrants come in to Lake Murray. Most of these migrants are accustomed to people shooting at them, so they tend to stay out of my camera's range. So, some of the photos might be blurry.

First, here's a redhead and a northern pintail:



Some eared grebes along with a couple of scaup:



A ruddy duck:



And, the usual:

Pepper:



That coot that has the deformed feet and may be partially blind:



Here's a juvenile wood duck that I was hoping would be Doodle when I first saw him waddling around, but it wasn't.



And, the killdeer. I think I saw George III and possibly his mom this morning. Later, I saw two females, both seemed young, but one is slightly older than the others if I judge by the pectoral feathers. I'm thinking that one might be Killer and D.'s chick and the other might be George and Martha's daughter. Or, both could be George's daughter or one could be related to Shy who had chicks last June.





I did not see Bossy, but I think I saw his girlfriend or her sister and brother. Also, not seen was Doodle. And, it looks like the owl got another duck sometime since Sunday, a male mallard. The feathers looks to be of the duck that was in bad condition and weak.