New Year's Shorebird Counting

This is the third year I've done shorebird counting on New Year's day at the San Diego South Bay.  This year, I went at a rising tide early in the morning.  The weather was mostly cloudy, but not foggy like last year.  I also didn't walk as far as usual because I was carrying a scope and tripod (which I dropped once, but it was OK).

**Yes, I know that some of the photos say "2012" on it.  I was watermarking them and my fingers aren't used to typing 2013, so several of them were mismarked, but I didn't want to go back and change them.

Willets and godwits were plentiful.  Though I saw many willets socializing with individual godwits, I did not see the special willet-godwit pair that I've seen the last two years.

This godwit was itchy:

I saw hundreds of western sandpipers, but only about a dozen least sandpipers:

Lots and lots of them:

 A good mess of northern pintails, too (and a ton of wigeons which I didn't get any good photos of):

In this next photo, though it's hard to see are several snowy egrets, a reddish egret, Bonaparte's gull, and two types of merganser.  I didn't even know I got a picture of the reddish egret or the mergansers when I took this photo.

These willets, godwits, and dowitchers were all feeding peacefully here:

When a Cooper's hawk went on the attack and tried to attack some coots and other birds along the shore.

The willets and the black-bellied plovers nearby made sure they sounded the alarm until she was gone:

A few greater yellowlegs were around:

One friendly killdeer.  I think I only saw 5 of the 30 I usually see there:

An unusual sight, a white pelican.  They are usually inland freshwater birds:

And, hundreds of black brant.

At lot of them:

Seriously, a lot:

And, lots of eared grebes, too.

Ducky is back and another male challenges George's son

Killer (the killdeer) and Digger

Today, Killer had another challenger for Digger, his mate. Digger seemed curious, but mostly stood allied with Killer.

I looked though my killdeer records and I don't think I've seen this male before.



The two of them, Killer and Digger, chase him off.



Standing united.





The sandpiper doesn't care, just keeps feeding.



The challenger didn't seem very serious about fighting, but kept pestering the female nontheless.

Ducks

Ducky is back! Here he is getting food this morning. Still working on his molt and getting his green head. He gets pecked a lot by the other males:



Here is his friend who is further along in his molt and has gotten his drake feather. I think he's about 18 weeks old now:



I like this runner-Cayuga mix, but she's afraid of me:



This is Bill's favorite, calls him the baby duck. I think he might be a bantam white mallard drake:




I think I saw Sir Francis Drake, the mallard who had his foot bound by fishing line for over a year. I didn't take a photo of him, but it appears that his foot may have totally healed up back to normal. I'm not sure if he's the one I saw or not, but he has the same bill marking as Sir Francis.

I saw the pretty gadwalls, here's the male (in the back) with some mallard ducks:



These two gadwalls got jumped on by the juvenile seagull who was probably just playing with them:



After he jumped on them, they stood up and flapped their wings:



Also seen:

(Warning, photo may bother some people)
This vulture was eating the coot that died a couple of weeks ago. He washed up in the area a few days ago and the vultures carried him away to this spot. The seagull got to eat, too.



The spotted sandpiper on the southern side of the parking lot (near Alvarado bay) is getting his spots back:



Here's the other sandpiper on the northern side of the parking lot (near Padre bay):



And, here's a juvenile male red-winged blackbird:



It's getting harder to identify birds lately as they are either in their juvenile or winter plumage!

Tiny becomes a flirt

2 juveniles, I think it's Tiny and Digger

Unfortunately, I didn't bring my camera yesterday, but Tiny was flirting, very heavily, with the two female chicks from across the lake. Shy was not that interested and Digger didn't seem overly excited, either.

Digger

Martha

Today, when I brought my camera, it was too dark to get decent photos. I saw George and the entire family and Digger in Alvarado Bay at Lake Murray. Shy was across the lake and her dad was on the shore of Padre Bay giving alarm calls to his girl. I didn't get a photo of him as he flew away. Soon after he flew away, his little daughter came over calling for him, but flew back to her spot. The killdeer seem really nervous lately, possibly due to it being busy and the males being anxious about their prospective mates.

Also seen:

Here's George standing with a spotted sandpiper wandering behind him. George acted like he was going to attack the smaller bird, at first, but backed off.

George and a sandpiper

Duckies!

Female Chocolate (Chocolate 2) was seen today. Here she is standing straight up with her runner self. I think she has the same father as Chocolate 1, but different mother.



Here's a cute little white duck, probably a small Pekin or a call duck. It's smaller than the coots.




A gentleman named Bill comes to feed the birds at the lake and leaves his bag on the ground, sometimes. Here are some ducks eating right out of his bags.

That's Tom, the Muscovy duck in the photo. He's a sweetie. Some kids came along later and threw bread at him, but it didn't hurt. He was wagging his tail like crazy in a happy way, but I think the kids were scared of him or something. I told them about how bad bread is for ducks, but that doesn't stop anyone from feeding it to the ducks. I tried to tell them that Tom liked them because he was wagging his tail. The kids did leave him alone, though, after a few minutes. I love that old duck, would be sad if anyone hurt him. I wish I could take him home.


Bill feeds them cracked corn and wild bird feed, mostly.

Bread isn't good for ducks. There's one young duck that eats too much of it and then he can't walk or swim well afterward. He ate too much today when a family visited the lake and almost couldn't move at all and looked sick afterward. He gets better after a few days and it's better than the last time he over-ate, but it's still a problem. I am considering taking him to a vet or talking to a wildlife rehabber if this continues.

Foggy Day; Tiny goes "home"

Tiny in the fog

Today was a foggy day and I went, first, to check on Tiny and the juveniles at the lake. But, I didn't get very good pictures there.

I did notice that many of the juveniles have gotten new feathers, a little darker than the others. However, Secret, Tiny's favorite playmate-attack target, has gotten a white feather on his back.

Tiny in front, trilling at Secret with his white feather, behind

Most of the juveniles were in Field 7 at Lake Murray. Shy and her dad were all alone in another field. Her dad never lets any killdeer get close to her and vice versa.

Shy in another field

I didn't see the hawk, at first, but all the doves were gone and the starlings were all sitting on wires mimicking the killdeer. It was funny. I kept hearing the "where are you" chirp and the alarm call and going to go look for the killdeer each time, only to find the starlings. They stopped making noises when I stood under them, so I know it was them. I wonder what the other killdeer thought about these noises?

A half hour later, I was looking for George, but didn't find him. Then, Tiny came calling, flying over from across the lake. I thought, perhaps, the hawk might have chased him out or human activity caused him to leave the fields. I could hear other killdeer doing territorial defense sounds, so I figure everyone might have been chased out of that field, and possibly went to Shy's field, which her dad didn't like.

Tiny seemed really upset and didn't try to eat or anything. Instead, he stood there, right in the middle of a bunch of ducks. I think he was lonely, but he didn't call for his siblings.

Tiny in the sun, looks female-like with the sun directly on his face

Also seen:

One of two spotted sandpipers at the lake this year.



A really small duck, possibly a call duck. It looks like a mini-mallard. It could also be a different breed of wild duck I haven't seen before like a female northern pintail.

Brothers and Sisters, Mom and Dad

All the chicks seem to be fine, that I could see. Sometimes, it's hard to tell who is who when I see them, even with binoculars. So, I take photos of them and look at their breast bands and faces more closely for the subtle differences. But, when I first shoot those photos, I don't always know who is actually there.

In the morning, it looks like I first stumbled upon Tiny and his mom all puffed up and possibly sleeping. They flew away to another part of the same area and when I went over to that side, I assumed they were the only two killdeer there.

Martha and Tiny

The problem is that on a brown surface, like a lakeshore, killdeer almost become invisible. Luckily, they often stand by the water which makes them more visible against it. So, I shot pictures of what I thought were the same two killdeer. But, when I went home and looked at the photos, I could tell it was not the same two. The second set of photos I took look like Martha and Killer. Tiny was probably standing nearby, but I didn't expect to look for three, so I didn't see him or where he went. Therefore, when I witnessed some affectionate chirps between one and another, I originally thought that the brothers were getting along great, but it was really one chick calling after his mom and wanting to be with her.

Martha and Killer

Another photo of Martha and Killer

Later, dad was on duty along with Firecracker and Killer. All three look very similar with their markings except that one was a female. But, sometimes with shadows and if the light is in a certain angle, a female can look like a male and vice-versa, especially when there is high contrast. Dad always stays close to Firecracker, but watches over both chicks.

George watching over his children

Firecracker

Firecracker hiding behind a rock (sorta)

Killer trying to hide behind a rock, also.

When dad gets too close to one of his male chicks, he gets called at almost with a "kill-dee" sound, but not quite. It's almost like a territorial yell, but the notes aren't right and it's stopped short. There's no clucking or threat calls at all and no one gets chased. It may be a special call pleading for the resident male to not hurt him as he's just a baby and he's not a threat. When both brothers are together, it sounds closer to a territorial call, but always stopped short like it's saying "hey, you get out! Oh, sorry dad, didn't recognize you.".

I assume that whomever is missing is with the other parent.

A hawk scare?

When I was almost about to leave, the two young killdeer started making alarm calls and flew off, going around in a circle around the bay. I also saw several other birds like pigeons and grackles fly away from that area really fast. A few seconds after the young killdeer started flying around, I believe dad started after them. Two of them landed near where they were before, but one landed near a grassy area and the geese. Then, after a minute or two, the geese started running to the water. I didn't see anything other than a vulture fly by and the killdeer rarely react to them. Once in a while they do, but rarely, even the babies.

After it was all over, a killdeer chirped for everyone to get together (I assumed it was George calling for Firecracker, whom I think was the one who landed far away). I didn't go check on them as I was sure they were alright as they were the first to react to whatever it was. If it was a hawk, it probably made its strike and got what it wanted or moved on. It does bother me that the young killdeer were the first to fly off because it makes them easy targets for a hawk who likes to catch its food in the air. Maybe that's why George went after them to bring them back to the ground. Hopefully the killdeer moved out of the way of the panicking geese.

Ballpark killdeer flock:

Today, there were two killdeer missing when I first saw the group, but they were both on Cowels and Del Cerro Point. Later, one other killdeer flew away, making the total 8 when I left. It's hard to approach them close enough to get photos unlike when they are near water, so I have a hard time identifying individual ones. When I first arrived, I did see a young killdeer, a male, foraging in the field. I think that could be "Secret" and "Secret" is a male--not a female. It's possible since I never got to see him as a chick. This can be good, we've got two males and a female on one side of the lake and two females and a male on another. Maybe they'll get together.

Also seen:

Flycatcher, the almost grown duckling was seen today. I think I may have even seen a sibling or two of hers show up on the scene, also. However, the young duckling, who would now be two weeks old, was not seen. I was really sad as I look forward to him coming up to me every time I'm there. But, the weather patterns have changed and I think a lot of ducks have gone elsewhere for shade and to keep cool. Hopefully the little duckling is still around. I thought I saw his mom, but she would have come up to the shore when I threw some peas in, so I don't think it was her. A lot of ducks were missing this day, probably due to the hot weather.

Flycatcher

Two sandpipers were seen and they were fighting. I've never seen two sandpipers at this lake together. They were still in their breeding colors, but are starting to get grayer.