More scaup, gadwalls and other water birds

Lake Murray is getting even more scaup.  I understand that they're a bit early this year.  

It looks like most of the ones that have arrived are young males.

Gadwalls are increasing.  Here is a trio along with a wood duck:

The male will answer to the name "Gaddy", but I know it's not Gaddy because he's already in his beautiful smooth gray colors and hanging out with his mallard girlfriend.

So many coots have arrived at the lake.  They are spread out over every inch:

The sora, a winter favoirte, is also already here:

I thought I would throw in this photo of Pink Legs, the young western gull, practicing his fishing.  Most gulls don't make it to full maturity at three to four years old.  Pink Legs looks to be between one and two years old, so he's got a chance.  Most gulls that die do so their first year then mortality drops off.

Greater scaup at Lake Murray? Update: Lesser scaup!

I came across this duck at Lake Murray sitting amongst the mallards this morning.  At first, I thought he was a new lesser scaup, but his behavior was a bit unusual.  I never see lesser scaups laying on the shore unless something was wrong with them.  This one seemed pretty comfortable on the shore.  So, I thought, maybe it was a ring-necked duck because the tip of its bill looked a little lighter than the rest of the bill and its head is a little flatter.  Ring-necked ducks often sit on the shore, too.  But, after looking at it again, the duck doesn't quite look like a ring-necked duck and it seems a bit larger than a lesser scaup, too.

So, I think it might be a greater scaup, but will try to get an expert opinion.  This next photo is unaltered other than resizing and my signature:

Here he is, walking.  I did some lighting adjustments on this one:

If it is a greater scaup, it would be the first one that I've ever seen at this lake or inland at all.  If it's a lesser scaup, it would still be unusual for this time of year.

***Update:  I looked at some other photos of lesser scaup (including the one that was there until last month) and he is a dead ringer for one.  So, I'm thinking this is just a larger than average lesser scaup.  Still pretty unusual.

In duckling news, one of the moms that had four ducklings a few days ago now only has two.  They're starting to get their tail feathers:

This was the mom who had three ducklings a week ago.  I love it when they get to this age, about 10-14 days old:

This duck was across the lake where Bumblefoot was.  His mama is a Flycatcher mama, possibly Flycatcher herself.  He's about two weeks old:

I think the next two photos are of the "Canal Ducklings" who would be about 7 weeks old.  However, they appear to be younger than 7 weeks and still have some down.

It looks like there is one male and two females with this family.   Mama's mate was being really mean to them, but they were kinda jumping around nipping at the adults, too.  Mama is the one in the back:

Also, I thought this was strange.  This baby coot is well over two months old, is almost as big as mama coot, and is still getting fed!  Coots tend to stop feeding their chicks after two months and chase them away at three months.  He had several siblings which died early:

Foggy Day. Also, Scaup in Trouble

Today, it was very foggy early in the morning.  In fact, the whole time I was there, it was foggy.  It wasn't until after I left that it became sunny enough to get good pictures.  As you can see from the photo above, there wasn't very much visibility.

In the photo below is a female killdeer in the same ballfield that the male I saw last time I was there.  I don't know who she is.  She seems to have the square head that many of the native-born killdeer at the lake have.

The next photo may be disturbing to some people.  I saw a scaup way up on shore, not even near the water.  That usually means trouble because they never come on shore except when they're sick or dying.  I took a photo and tried to catch him, but he flew off way into the water.  He looked normal while in the water.  At first, it looked like he just had a little fishing line wrapped around him.  It wasn't until I saw the photo that I realized not only did he have a fish hook in his tongue, the the fishing line was wrapped all over his body.  I don't even think he'll ever be able to eat again.  I did see him drinking some water, though. 

In more disturbing news, a friend of mine found a mama duck that had been run over on the entrance road early yesterday morning.  It was probably the same duck that I saw in the road earlier in the week that almost got hit several times.  I checked all the female ducks in the area to see if I can identify one that might be missing.  It's a little hard because some ducks are laying, so it's normal to have a few females missing.  As far as I know, the only duck I couldn't find was Drama Mama, the one that had the two ducklings that kept wandering away a few years ago.  I kinda lost track of her last summer, so I don't know if she's truly missing or had flown away.  

While I was checking out the female mallards, I found this one with a chipped bill.

I was really was worried about Ducky's girlfriend because Ducky was all by himself.  But, I think I saw her and she was OK.  Ducky was being a butt-head and picking fights will all the drakes.  For some reason, he seems to want to kill this beautiful young duck that is smaller than him.  I don't know why he hates him so much.  He and his girlfriend's brother are still buddies, though.

I don't know if it was because of the fog, but all the ducks were very itchy like they had mites.  Hurt Wing was pulling her feathers out of her hurt wing.  I wonder why.  They look horrible.

Big Daddy was being a good boy and not trying to fight with anyone.  He has been seen, however, checking out all the girls at the lake.

I saw this red-tailed hawk near where Ducky was.  There was a lady feeding the squirrels and I wonder if he was using this time to take advantage of the squirrels coming out.  I told the lady about the hawk, but she got snippy about it.  She was basically setting the hawk's dinner table for him without realizing it.  Some people are just so clueless.

Baby gull is sick

The big juvenile western gull at Lake Murray was found mostly paralyzed and weak this morning.  A worker moved him aside and I checked on him after two hours.  He was still in the same spot, not moving.  But, if you tried to touch him, he was ready and willing to bite.

Karen, who works for the water department, donated some money and he was taken to Project Wildlife for care.  Botulism or a bacterial infection may be the cause as it is not uncommon with birds who eat crustaceans.  

I am not a huge fan of gulls because they eat small birds, baby birds, and eggs, but they deserve to live like anything else does and they are only trying to survive.  I'm sure the animals don't like a lot of things that people do, too.

Also seen today were the herons on their nest.  There was a third heron nearby, but I think it was one of last year's offspring.  It didn't seem to have a mate.  Last year, there were two pairs, but one pair lost their eggs/chicks very early. 

I saw this black-crowned night heron in a tree, trying to sleep.

Somebody complained about the osprey nest being an eyesore because they never use it.  While they don't raise chicks in the nest, they do like to use it for resting and eating.

These lesser scaup were really friendly.  Usually, when they first arrive at the lake, they're very scared of everything and don't approach the shoreline.  However, about this time of year, they are more relaxed and will come up to get food or a closer look.

Male

Female

Pepper was seen today with a big hole in his chest.  He's been a bad boy and picking fights, lately.  He's still in love with his mom, too.