Foggy ducklings and a problem for Spoonface

Today was a very foggy day and I went early to go check my nests.  The killdeer eggs are still around and should be hatching sometime in the next week.

I found this poor girl with two large males with her.  I think this is one of the "Friendly ducklings" whom Spoonface (Bossy) used to hang around with.

Speaking of Spoonface (Bossy), I think this is him, not only does he not have his orange ring around his neck, he can fly now!  However, he went over and attacked the female while on the concrete, possibly harming her.  Hopefully she is OK and he didn't crush any forming eggs inside her.  However, it appears that Spoonface injured himself and seemed not to be able to retract his penis.  He was able to retract it, but it came back out.  Plus, his sperm fell on the concrete as well.  If he can't retract his penis, it will get infected and he will die.  Always something with him!  Here he is before the attack:

Now to the foggy ducklings.  This is the same female who lost her entire brood last year.  5 were stolen by "Ducklingnapper" (who was not seen today) and the rest died.  These ducklings were hatched almost to the day as her brood last year.  This year, though, she is more attentive and she warns them to stay away from people.  Unfortunately, she has a little rouen baby that is not doing well.  Plus, the baby has fishing line wrapped a little around the top of his head.

The little rouen with the fishing line

Ducky day

Tiny and a mallard or rouen duck

The only killdeer I saw today was Tiny and he was hanging around the coots and the ducks. He looks totally an adult now. Very different from when he first learned how to fly. No killdeer were at the ballfields. I did hear some of the other ones, but I didn't see them.

Tiny

I saw another limping coot, the third victim of whatever is hurting them or perhaps the first one who was injured and began hurting again. The water level has gone down and they're not hanging around that one tree anymore. But, they are still feeding close to it and under another tree.

The "lost" duckling (to be named "Ducky") was wandering far from the water's edge close to the parking lot. He was walking up to people standing around near there. But, I got him away by going to a picnic table. He ran right up to me each time I put my bags down on a table. So, he has learned to associate the picnic tables with food. That might be a problem in the future if he gets aggressive when people won't feed him. Here's a video of him and a friend coming up to me at the table:

I saw a bunch of horned grebes at Lake Murray, too. It's funny to think that they may have "followed" me back to San Diego from the Salton Sea.

Horned grebes and a coot

Chocolate 1 is beginning to show signs of courtship and aggression. Most of the other ducks back down from him:



And, of course, the little sandpiper was around: