Ring-bills, teals, and woodpeckers

There's still at least one teal at Lake Murray.  Here she is with a male mallard.

There are so many coots, scaups, and ruddy ducks now:

Baby Blue, the dumped domestic duckling,  seems to like to eat Mazuri waterfowl food. He's gotten a lot larger, lately:

Though he is now mostly feathered out, his feathers are not in good condition.  I suspect that his previous owner didn't feed him very well and now he's growing up on junk food.  I hope his condition improves:

I found this blue heron standing on a railing.  I guess if they can hang onto branches, they can stand on a rail.  I think this might be the mom heron or one of the babies.  Mom heron was very grayish like this one:

Finally saw some ring-billed gulls, three young ones:

This Nuttall's woodpecker was out in the open when I first saw him, but when I turned the camera on him, he began to hide from me:

Someone said they spotted a glaucous-winged gull there, but I didn't see him.

Long-billed dowitcher and RIP Jill the goose

Long-billed dowitcher hiding behind some tall grass

A long-billed dowitcher had decided to stop and get something to eat at Lake Murray this morning.  Here he is with a mallard:

This teal was following me around and making a big racket.

Baby Blue might not be a blue Swedish duck afterall.  I think he's part runner and part Swedish:

Here's a video of the little duck:

There haven't been too many gulls other than the usual western gulls which breed here in San Diego.  And, there's only been a few juveniles, all of them are first years:

Mama osprey came back to her nest:

And, sad news.  When I went to feed Jill, I found her laying on the ground, dead.  I don't think she lived much longer than when I last saw her yesterday when she refused to eat.  Here's a photo from her last week when she seemed a little better.

Tijuana River Estuary

Today, I took a bird walk down to the Tijuana River Natural Esturarine Research Reserve.

We saw several northern harriers, males and females.  Here's a couple pictures of a female:

Northern Harrier Female

Northern Harrier Female

There was also a white-tailed kite, but it was too far away to get a good photo of.

We also saw some curlews.

Long Billed Curlew

Long Billed Curlew

Curlews and Willets

A light-footed clapper rail came out into the sunlight.

Light-footed clapper rail

Some teal and ducks:

Green-winged teal

Mallards

Jack is missing!

Jack and Jill near what was left of Meanie last summer

Jack, the white gander who lives with Jill near the ballfields at Lake Murray was missing this morning.  I thought I saw him when I first arrived, but by the time I went to the other side, he was gone and Jill was frantically looking and calling for him.

Jill, looking for Jack this morning

I saw Jack on Sunday and he didn't look too good.  He's always sleepy when I see him, but the last few days he seems to have gotten more lethargic.  I can't find anything that tells me what happened to him and I think Jill is very confused, too.  There was no indication that a predator got him, but it has been raining the last few days, so it might have gotten washed away.  I am wondering if the lady that feeds them found something wrong with Jack and took him to the animal hospital.  Perhaps she or whomever couldn't take Jill, too, and will come back for her later.  I am worried because there are coyotes all over the place there and she is all alone.

In other news, when I arrived, I saw the merganser, but he wasn't very co-operative about me taking his picture.  The water level had been lowered, so they could see me coming from pretty far away.  Plus, it was dark when I originally arrived.

I saw this cute cinnamon teal. The camera couldn't focus well because it was still dark:

Later, I saw this green heron trying to fish from a branch:

Lots of killdeer today.  I think I still counted 11.  They were being very quiet and still, but I could tell they loved the lower water level.  All of them were in George's feeding area.  George, Killer, Dee, and George III were seen among others.

The kiddos

George III, Puffy Band and Dee (I think)

George on the far left

And, finally, a bunch of shovelers.  Here's a male and a female:

The Wilson's snipe was heard near the fence and cedar waxwings were heard around the golf course area.

Buffleheads, teals and wigeons

First, before we get to the ducks  today at Lake Murray, I found this female killdeer all by herself.  I don't know who she is, but she seems similar to Georgina.  No other killdeer were seen today.

Also, here's a nice looking red-winged blackbird.

OK, now for some ducks.  First, a a female wigeon hanging around with the mallards:

Buffleheads:

Female green-winged teal:

A lady across the lake has named the Swedish that was dropped off at the lake last March, Oreo:

She calls his friend Aflac, but that would make him Aflac 3:

I thought I saw a spoon on this duck's face, so I thought it was Bossy (Spoonface), but from this angle, you can't see a spoon, so I am thinking twice about this being him:

Bigboi was not seen and since he's been ill lately, I am worried about him. I also haven't seen Curly lately, either.