A few random bird pics from Lake Murray

Just a few random bird pictures today.  I saw no shorebirds at all, nor have I see the scaup, yet.  I know there are a few down here in the San Diego area, just not at this lake.  However, there are more coots there now that I've ever seen before.

I haven't been taking many pictures because it's been really dark and cloudy in the morning, so the light is bad.

Here is a gull doing a courtship call to another gull a few feet away.

This ring-billed gull has some sort of tumor or weird feather growth.  It doesn't seem to be bothering him and when he shakes his head, it wiggles lightly.  He is full of energy, but it looks like he swallowed a golf ball.

Fancy-foot pigeon.  There were actually a few of them there.  I didn't see the racing pigeon, though I heard there was a strange looking pigeon who died there.  However, the racing pigeon really didn't look all that strange, kinda like this one.

Song sparrow with some kind of insect in its mouth:

Little Trouble:

And, the male ruddy ducks are following around the female teal again:

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.

May 2014 Counting Day

Nutmeg Manikins.  I always see them there at Lake Murray

Today was the (unofficial) May 2014 counting day at Lake Murray in San Diego.  I was able to really get out and count the birds carefully because there were so few birds seen.  I only counted about 20 coots, which is the lowest number I've ever counted.  Mallard levels were low, too.  Unlike previous years, there were few ducklings and coot babies, too.  Western gulls, song sparrows, house finches and Anna's hummingbirds were the most numerous birds there.

I saw two gadwalls:

Surprisingly, we still have a few ruddy ducks around.  The scaup were there until a few days ago.

Baby Blue has a new girlfriend and they stick together all the time.  The male she was dumped with has left her because she prefers to be with Baby Blue.  She follows him everywhere.

The mom who had four ducklings still has three of them.  One of the smallest ones is gone.  They're about two weeks old now.  They were the only ducklings there.  Usually, there are at least 40-60 at this time.

This mean old coot didn't like the mama duck eating some grain that was nearby and chased her away:

The ducklings went and hid deep in the reeds and mama went with them.  I didn't see them again:

The two jerk geese were there where the ducklings are.  Well, the Canada goose is really sweet, but the white one is a jerk.

It's Ducky Time! (and a killdeer)

The ducks are doing well.  The photo above is of mostly domestic ducks such as the Snowies and the crested runner as well as the Snowie's sons.

This photo is of the two buff sisters dumped off recently.

Here's a photo of Bigboi, the Cayuga and Pepper's dad.  He's lived longer than any other dumped duck that I've ever known.  He's been there at least 3.5 to 4 years, perhaps longer.  I estimate his age to be around 4.5 to 5 years old, which is pretty good for a domestic duck living out in the wild, especially one that can't fly and is missing half of a foot.

Bigboi loves the new Cayuga girl dumped off with the buff at the top of the photo.  Unfortunately, non-flying domestic females don't live that long with so many males and I am trying not to get attached to this lovely, sweet girl.

I saw my first lesser scaup this year:

Ruddy ducks are doing well.  Several of the males still have a lot of their breeding plumage with white cheeks.  I think this is a male that has lost most of his breeding colors, but still has semi-bright cheeks.

And, finally, a noisy killdeer who was kill-deeting and flying around claiming territory.  He was a bit afraid of me, so I think he was new.

Snowie's Babies

With the hot weather lately, it meant less gulls flying around trying to snag ducklings and less brooding issues for mama ducks.  So, after 5 days, Snowie still has five ducklings.

Here is one of her ducklings happily diving for food.  you just barely see his feet.

Later, there was a family with a well-behaved little girl feeding the babies.  The little girl wanted to pet the ducks, but her parents taught her otherwise and everything ended up being a great experience for everyone.

The ducklings got so close to me, they were practically running and pecking at my feet.  They were also too close to get a photo.

So, I sat down and took some photos of them:

There was one extra tired one who kept laying down and not eating that much.

Dad Snowy was there, too!  Here's a couple of ducklings hanging out with Dad.

"Look at my gigantic feet!  I'm going to be big!"

A crow came by and Snowie thought it was best to move her babies away.

There was also another family of 7 day-old ducklings.  They almost got mixed with Snowie's babies and Snowie attacked one of them.  But, it was OK and went back to his mama.

For some strange reason, the baby coots were all by themselves.  I have no clue where their parents were.

The two ducklings that the kids were throwing rocks at last week were found in another area alive and well.  The smaller one has almost caught up in size to the larger duckling.

We still have one ruddy duck at the lake and it's getting more active.  I thought it was an old male because it seemed to be getting into its breeding colors, but was not able to do so.  But, now, I think it might be a female.  She was flapping her wings a lot and flying around near the coot family (who have one chick).  I think she was lonely and, maybe, a little warm.

I also wanted to mention that I found this southern Pacific rattlesnake right at the bench where the crowd of kids were throwing rocks at the ducks last week.  Most people didn't see the baby snake and he was really sluggish.  I prodded him with a stick to see if he would be annoyed enough to move more into the brush, out of sight. (That is why he's in a defensive posture) But, I think he was just too sluggish and I didn't want to push my luck and get bit, so I let him be.  He did move a few inches over near where there was more grass.

Several minutes after I left him, a lady who frequently walks her small dog at the lake on one of those retractable leashes (and finds it fun for her dog to chase ducks and harass the geese as well as letting him run all over the place almost uncontrolled), sat down at the bench.  Fortunately, she held the dog in her arms while she sat on the bench instead of letting him run around like she usually does.  I don't even think she ever saw the snake.

There were only a couple of ducks in the area and when one flew and landed in the water near the bench, another female came up and fought with her, pushing her out of the area.  Then, they both moved away and were fine with each other.

By the way, baby rattlesnakes are a lot more dangerous than the adults due to the fact that they haven't learned to control their venom output.  I also heard another rattler around the 1 mile mark about 5 feet off the path.  The rattlers are having babies just like everyone else.

In other news, I thought I heard "family calls" from the killdeer in the ballfield area.  I think that Squeak and Pollux might have had babies and I'll check it out next time I'm there.  Also, Fish Food Mama's babies are breaking up and some of them are out exploring.  And, Bigboi and Bumblefoot are doing better than expected in the hot weather.  Both ducks have health issues that make me worry about them.

And, a reminder, there is NOT going to be any fireworks at the lake this year just like last year.  I don't know about next year.  No musicfest, either.  I'm not sure about any fun-runs.

Some fall migrating ducks

Just a few duck photos of our fall visitors beginning with some female cinnamon teal:

Where're the boys?

A ruddy duck, though they're here all year around, just not usually at this lake:

Wigeons:

And, there were a few killdeer around.  This one looks like Shy's Mate:

This could be his son, he looks a lot like Miracle:

Morning at the lake

Ruddy duck greets the morning

Luckily, inland, the sun was out early today.  So, I was able to get some decent photos.  Jill is still very attached to the Canada goose:

Louie is still biding his time and hopes to have Jill eventually.

I originally thought this was the mother duck with the one duckling and was very sad because she had no duckling with her and was being harassed by the males a lot.  But, it wasn't the mama, but her almost twin.  So, the duckling still might be alive:

Sadly, one of the three ducklings from the original ten hatched last month is missing.  At this age, it is not unknown for a duckling to leave the family.  I did hear a lone duckling peeping in another part of the lake, but couldn't see who it was.  Here is a photo of the other two.  The small one is the little weakling duckling:

Here is the entire family.  The male pecked at one of the ducklings for no reason except, maybe to maintain his dominance:

Little weakling swimming around the golf balls:

Big sibling with a full crop checking me out:

On the other side of the lake, the mom with the five ducklings still have five, healthy, growing ducklings, which is unusual to hold on to that many for this long.  Here are two of them:

This next picture is blurry because these ducklings were very friendly and this one walked too close to me and my camera lens:

Here are the other four walking up to other people.

Then, mom gave a sharp quack and they all ran back to the water.  Someone came by with a trio of dogs.

Killdeer update:


I could hear a killdeer doing a panic mobbing call and when I finally found where it came from, I saw a large raven around where Junior is nesting poking around the rocks looking for Junior's nest.  As I approached, the raven flew off, but I am not sure if it found the nest.  Junior calmed down after I called to him:

Then, it sounds like the raven went over to George and Killer's nesting area to do the same thing.  It is unknown if he got anything over there, too.  I think George and Killer's chicks are mostly grown by now.

I also got a report that all three of Squeak and Pollux's chicks were seen yesterday and are doing fine.