Cold morning

This morning was cold and there was frost everywhere.  It's actually been cold with frost for several days now, but it might be warming up starting tomorrow.  The photo above is, I think, one of the two babies the "Snowies" had.  The "Snowies" are either a snowy mallard pair or a Welsh harlequin pair with at least half mallard.  You can see a little frost color on these two boys, the only survivors out of six ducklings.

 Below is a photo of Pepper, the duck with the broken wing on the other side.  I don't like his shape, it looks similar to Scoop in regards tot he belly area.  Pepper has a Cayuga shape, but the puffyness around the legs bothers me.  I'm hoping it's just fat and not water on his belly.  He's behaving normally.

"Baby" goose is being a jerk and chasing all the ducks around.  I think this confirms he's a gander afterall.  He no longer hangs out with the rest of the flock, but off to the side and on his own.

Something's wrong with Big Mama Cooper; she's acting weird.  She flew up right in front of me and landed on a tree trunk and didn't move even though she was looking right at me.  I started to take my camera out and she flew up in this other tree and didn't move.  I noticed in the photo that one of her eyes seems swollen and possibly draining. But, I think she might have been bathing a few minutes earlier.  Either that or she was sleepy.  She hardly ever lets me look at her for too long.  She seemed very tired and stayed in this tree for a half an hour.

Smudge was about twenty feet away from Big Mama, being quiet and blending into the ground.  But, she seemed unconcerned about the hawk.  I know she knows what a Cooper's hawk is as she lived where one regularly hunted.  She seemed fairly unconcerned about her.  She was pretty much the only bird in that area at that moment that a Cooper's hawk would traditionally hunt, so I was worried.  But, after I left I came back to check later and both of them were gone.

RIP "Scoop"

Scoop died last Saturday.  That day, he was caught and put in a crate in order to get him some help from a rescue center, but he died soon after being caught.  It was only a matter of time before he died from this problem as it didn't get better.   The Wednesday before,  I checked on him and he was barely functioning, but still alive enough to run away from me.  I almost grabbed him then, but I think it was already too late for him.

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Counting Day!

Today is the day I counted the birds at Lake Murray as I have done every month for the last two or three years.  I don't know how much longer I am going to do my monthly counts, but I plan to do at least the next one for the Great Backyard Bird Count in February.

My day started out with the usual birds, but a big lack of mallards.  One of my first neat birds to see was the eared grebe in the photo above.

I also heard the "Mystery Warbler" (Possibly a Virginia's warbler) call for a few seconds lately.

I checked on all the domestic ducks and all were fine, but Bumblefoot's foot infection is really bad.  It must hurt as he doesn't even want to put her foot under her body.  The rough ground probably doesn't help, either.

Here's a close-up of it.  It really is nasty and she doesn't have a lot longer to live if she doesn't get treatment for it soon.  Otherwise, she is in good spirits and has normal energy and appetite.

The call duck mix seems to be all better now and is no longer tucking his tail in.  I don't think he needs a rescue anymore.

Gaddy and his girlfriend.  You can always tell which gadwall is Gaddy because he's always with this female mallard no matter what.  Sure, he likes to stray off an look at other girls and pick fights with the males, but he always stays close to her.

Oreo has managed to get into Cinnamon's inner circle and seems to almost be her new fifth boyfriend.

But, as she and her other boyfriends leave the area, he stays behind near where his friend died, circling around.  Eventually, he followed Cinnamon, but seemed really hesitant to do so.

Later, I saw him across the lake looking at the 10 Pekins over there. I wonder if he was looking for his friend or for a new friend.

Here are the results of today's count:

3	Canada Goose
10	Gadwall
201	Mallard
37	Mallard (Domestic type)
2	Cinnamon Teal
14	Northern Shoveler
354	Lesser Scaup
2	Bufflehead
23	Ruddy Duck
6	Pied-billed Grebe
2	Eared Grebe
1	Western Grebe
15	Western/Clark's Grebe
56	Double-crested Cormorant
3	American White Pelican
1	Great Blue Heron
1	Snowy Egret
1	Green Heron
10	Turkey Vulture
1	Osprey
1	Cooper's Hawk
1	Red-shouldered Hawk
280	American Coot
24	Ring-billed Gull
27	Western Gull
13	California Gull
1	Glaucous-winged Gull
34	Rock Pigeon
43	Mourning Dove
70	Anna's Hummingbird
5	Nuttall's Woodpecker
3	Black Phoebe
2	Cassin's Kingbird
11	American Crow
2	Common Raven
169	Bushtit
2	Marsh Wren
7	Bewick's Wren
1	Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
3	California Gnatcatcher
1	Ruby-crowned Kinglet
1	Hermit Thrush
20	European Starling
1	Orange-crowned Warbler
1	Virginia's Warbler Vocal only. Same bird heard/seen in previous months mentioned in previous eBird reports. Only gave a short, 15 second call one time before disturbed by nearby human activity. Though it is staying around the same general area as before, it has become almost non-vocal over the last few weeks.
6	Common Yellowthroat
330	Yellow-rumped Warbler Conservative count. Every bird counted was individually sighted and/or heard.
1	Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) Similar to Audubon's warbler, except with a white throat.
6	California Towhee
63	Song Sparrow
83	White-crowned Sparrow
30	Red-winged Blackbird
63	Brewer's Blackbird
40	Great-tailed Grackle
134	House Finch
79	Lesser Goldfinch

Lesser goldfinches and sick ducks

Early Christmas morning brought lesser goldfinches.  This male wasn't afraid of me at all:

These females weren't afraid of me either, until the sunshade on my camera fell off and they flew away, but the male stayed and called for them.

This duck has a very cute bill.  I've never seen a bill marked like that.  I think she's a young duck.  I was sitting down and she walked right behind me and chattered away.

For the last few days, I've been getting help for this crested pekin female.  I was told she might have ascites, or water on the belly.  The first day I saw her in trouble, she was very sleepy and looked sick.

When I saw her yesterday, she looked a bit better, but was still struggling.  I did see her run out of the water when someone brought some food.  However, someone said she suddenly started limping and then collapsed on her belly and scooted herself back into the water.  When I saw her, she was acting like something was wrong with her legs, but got better as she continued swimming.  She also put her wings and tail back into normal position for a moment.

If it's ascites, she will NOT get better and will die within days.  If it is not, then I don't know.

Update:  It took me a while to get some help for her, but she was rescued on 12/29!  She is said to be extremely thin, but other than something being wrong with her leg, she seems to be OK.

Across the lake from that duck, I thought that this female on the left had a bad bumble on her foot.  If she does, she may also die from that and, perhaps, infect the other ducks.  That's her mate on the right:

Someone said that might not be a bumble, but a callous.  It's making her limp, but she seems to be a very happy girl and in love with her mate.

I'm sad to report that this small duck who has been at the lake for several years is either sick or injured.  He was fine a week or two ago.  He is acting normally, but is all hunched over.  He might have been attacked by a larger duck or even a predator.  I don't know how old he is, but he might recover.  He's probably a call duck mix and is just about the smallest mallard-derived duck at the lake.