A couple killdeer photos

I finally saw a couple of killdeer.  The female (below) was freakishly friendly towards me, so I knew it's one of the chicks I observed some time over the last few years.  At first, I thought it was Dee, then Firecracker, then Little Miracle.  Now, I think it might be Smudge.  She walked right up to me.

Here is a young male, younger than the killdeer above.  He is a spitting image of Killer (AKA Kip), so I think it might be one of his sons.  If the killdeer above is Dee, this would probably be her son.  If it's Smudge, then this might be her new mate:

Look at all these gulls and coots.  Lots of ring-billed gulls here like last year and the year before..  Hopefully, they will move on before the ducklings begin to hatch.

Killdeer photos!

Here are some killdeer photos I took today:

D. and Killer

An unknown female hanging out with Pollux

Pollux?

Watching for hawks

George's new daughter?

And, now for a couple duck photos:

I think this is Bossy, but I'm not sure. He was with two of the female friendly ducks until their brother stole one away.



I think this duck is new, possibly passing through:



RIP "Hop-a-long Bill".

The little ringed-bill gull that has been at the lake since the end of migration season last February, has passed on. Last Wednesday, I found him sleeping in his usual spot and he didn't move until I was close enough to grab him. He got up, moved a few inches, and went back to sleep. At the time, I didn't have any containers to put him in to take him to get help, plus I would have needed gloves with him as I didn't know why he was sick. When I saw him next, a couple hours later, he had moved to another spot, but appeared either dead or near death, but I didn't check on him.

Then, today, I found his body near the water. I looked at his leg and found that the skin on the damaged leg was completely gone and the bone exposed. Two of his toes and webbing on that foot were completely dead. It's amazing that he was able to walk on it all on it and for so long. His body appeared to have been laying in sleeping position when he died and possibly for some time afterward.

New ducklings

There's still little ducklings coming out. This is the female that had the one disobedient duckling about a week ago. That duckling disappeared. Recently, she was spotted with this duckling.



It's been hot and all the ducks are laying in the shade and hiding most of the day, so it may seem like all the animals have disappeared at Lake Murray recently.

Here's the missing "bossy" duckling. I don't know where his mom is today, but I do know she checks on him now and then. He's looking a little thin.



Ducky's duckling sitting in the grass in the morning:



A baby coot being fed by it's parents:





This western gull is in it's third year, almost fully grown. I think it's mate/sibling was killed by a hawk recently:



The ring-billed gull is doing fine. His foot seems better, but he doesn't stand on it much. But, it is often used for grooming and it seems fully functional. He's molting right now:



Surprise!

Bob2, the spotted sandpiper, is back! And, she's lost most of her spots. It's a little early for her return. I couldn't get a photo of her as she flew off, screaming.

Also, two more geese, Grumpy and his friend, decided to visit Coyoteland across the lake. So far, nothing's happened to them. But, I think they're looking for food. I gave Louie some extra romaine lettuce I had today and he seemed extremely hungry.

Missing:

The little male gadwall that used to hang around Alvarado Bay at Lake Murray is missing. I saw a pile of feathers that might have come from him nearby. There is no sign of the female gadwall with the two ducklings, but she's rarely seen.

Seagulls, geese and ducks

I was writing an article for Examiner.com (I'm the San Diego Nature Examiner) and had to take a photo of Lake Murray's new "no feeding" signs for my article. While I was there, I snapped a few photos of the other birds.

First, though, a killdeer update:

Killer and Digger have been seen feeding in George's feeding area while George and Martha are possibly attending to a new nest beyond the fenced area. Other killdeer have been heard, but not seen.

OK, now back to the other birds:

Here are some seagull shots from Lake Murray:

2nd year ring-billed gull wading:



Baby (1 year old or less) ring-billed gull:



Baby (1 year old or less) Calfiornia gull. He was pretty rough looking, possibly sick, but could fly:



The two trouble-making Chinese geese:



Aflac and Latte arrive too late to be fed:



Heron sitting in her nest:



Ducky and his friends were not seen today. It's possible that Ducky's mate has gone broody early. Hopefully, the heron won't eat her ducklings.

Quiet day at the lake

No killdeer were seen yesterday and a lot of other birds were "missing". It was very cold that morning, so that may be why. I did a bird count and the number of mallards have decreased %60 since the end of last November. Coots have declined %40 and most of them are hanging around the main parking lot of Lake Murray. Ruddy ducks are very few, but lesser scaups are holding steady in their numbers.

This lesser scaup was looking for something to eat:



Here's the domestic duck posse. Actually, I think they're all after Oreo as a mate. There was a female Pekin duck not in the photo.



These two ganders were caught fighting, but not seriously. They're actually best buddies, though. However, it may just be that they like to keep an eye on each other.



Those two bossed around these other geese before their wrestling match:



And the osprey was fishing nearby, almost hit some ducks while diving into the water:



RIP:

This juvenile ring-billed gull arrived with the other ring-bills last month. I took this photo on January 18th and tried to catch him, but he kept swimming out in the water. He and another gull both had this problem with their wings. Possibly, they were playing and strained or pulled their wing muscles. On Sunday, he looked like he was healing and was even flapping his wings and getting lift. Yesterday, I found him dead in another area. It looked like he died in his sleep. His feet was folded up under him and his eyes were pretty much closed and his wings in the same position as in this photo. I looked at his hurt wing and there was no break or any other visible problems, so it was probably only strained. Something else must have been wrong with him. The other gull with this problem is doing OK.


Missing:

The two geese that were hanging out across the lake in the ballfield area have not been seen in at least a week. It's possible that they're a pair and may just be nesting somewhere. Or, perhaps, someone came and picked them up. I haven't seen any indication that the coyotes got them. I saw them last Tuesday night in an area close to where the coyotes hunt. They can't fly, so if they didn't get caught by the coyotes, then someone had to have taken them out.

Also, one of the Canada geese has been missing for a while, but they can fly, so he might have just flown away

Seagull day

No sign of any killdeer, though I heard George calling from an area where I couldn't go. I fed Tom and Curly some food and they were such pigs that they ate it all.

I saw Bob2, one of the spotted sandpipers. I was worried about her as the last time I saw/heard her, she was screaming her head off at a red-tailed hawk. I was afraid she had been carried off by it. But, she's back and feeding:



All the ducks are doing very well. Here's Ducky, who still hasn't gotten his green head though he's over 20 weeks old now:



I saw these cute ring-billed gulls:



The juvenile behind these ring-billed gulls was playing with a cherry tomato or grape. A coot tried to take it away from him, but he got it back:



I think this is a juvenile herring gull playing with some leaves that fell in the lake. He seems to be trying to get the smaller, California juvenile gull to join in:



Here's what's left of "Jumpy" the gull that died a week or so ago. He took his final flight with the help of some vultures, who scatter all the dead animals all over the lake. This is now his final resting spot:

Jumpy's final flight