Counting Day

Today, I did my monthly counting of birds at Lake Murray and the wood ducks decided that they didn't want to be a part of it and disappeared. All except Doodle. And, the herons weren't to be seen, either.

Doodle is looking much better, but a little toddler almost fell on him when the child fell backward. Doodle was standing right behind the him, but, luckily, sensed he was falling and moved away a little. Later, someone's dog scared him to flying off. I did see the dog go after something later, but did not see any ducks around. I looked all over and Doodle had completely disappeared.



I think this duck might be Pepper, but he's missing his little white spot under his chin and he's a bit larger than I remember him to be. However, he stood right next to his dad and I can see the resemblance. He's smaller than his dad, but bigger than most mallards. I sure hope he will be able to fly. It's also possible that this is one of Pepper's siblings.

ETA: This is not Pepper, afterall, but must be a sibling or half-brother. I found the real Pepper a couple of days later.



Speaking of updates, I think this might be Bossy Duck. I haven't seen him in a couple of weeks, so it seems that he got his colors really fast. I think I also saw Poquito, who is a week older, and not fully colored yet. In this photo is the strangled duck's surviving sister who is in love with Bossy, but Bossy is very bossy with her. I think he likes her, though.

ETA: This is not Bossy, but Poquito afterall, I found the real Bossy later with a different female. The female in the photo is still identified as being the strangled duck's sister.



Baby coot is also still making it.



I saw some green-winged teals for the first time. I hope they stay the winter because they look like mini-mallards right now. But, I think they're just passing through.


And, finally, this little female hangs out with Quacker, the flying cayuga. Quacker loved Peaches' ducklings and I think she has taken to being a mom to this one and maybe one other. She does "mom talk" to her.



And, the killdeers:

George and his family hanging out.

Killer

There's that strange female again on the left. I'm beginning to wonder if this might be one of George's daughters from this year. The other young male is George III and that's Digger standing up on the right.

Wood duck fights

The wood ducks are actively fighting hard for their mates at Lake Murray.

Good news about Doodle. His other eye (not the one shown) is doing much better, though it is still swollen around the socket. He is opening it up all the way and it looks like he can see out of it. Also, he had a very big appetite today! One of the females was flirting with him. Hopefully, he doesn't get attacked by the three healthy males around there.

The female pintail came running up to me to see if I had any food:

The baby coot is still making it:


George III, Georgina and his parents were hanging around. Here's a photo of George III doing the plover shuffle with his feet. No one knows why they do this:

And, a photo of Baby Bob (with George III in the foreground) She's getting almost as big as the killdeers.

Someone dumped three big, beautiful ducks not long ago:

Also, this female has a damaged wing. I thought that perhaps it was one of Ducky's ducklings, but it appears that it's a domestic mallard because it looks like one of its hind toes has been clipped. Hopefully, its wing will get better, soon.

Doodle's eye

Doodle

Doodle's eye has gotten a little bit better, but is still swollen and full of puss. It's obvious that Doodle isn't feeling good because of it. He's not eating much and is losing weight. I'm just enjoying him as long as he's here as I don't know how much longer he can make it.



Pepper was seen very early, yesterday morning, trying to pick a fight with Buffy's group.



I also saw Bossy and his gang, but didn't get a photo. Here's a photo of his sister, though. His other sister was with Peep outside my usually walking area.



Also seen:

Some northern pintails. They were far away and were coming towards me until a coot chased them away:



Forster's and least terns were around, but I only got a photo of a Forster's tern:



A great white egret. I rarely see those at Lake Murray:



And, the Swedish and Pekin ducks along with their friends:



Curly:



And, Quacker with another female who might be one of Pepper's siblings. Quacker was making motherly noises towards her. She always seemed to take an interest in the ducklings, but Peaches didn't let her get too close.



Both baby coots are doing fine. Here's mom feeding one of them:



Yesterday, I saw 4 juvenile Cooper's hawks hanging around the ballfields. I could tell they were attacking the young killdeer there by the screams the killdeer were making. I think they all got away. Spike and Georgina ended up in George's old territory:

Spike

Georgina (looks so much like her dad and grandfather)

George III was keeping his distance:

Doodle and his button

Doodle the wood duck found a button yesterday and it looked like he was trying to eat it. Because his tongue is not in his mouth, he can't exactly tell very well that it's not edible. I could hear him trying to break it apart with his bill. A couple of times, I tried to get it away from him, but he just went into the water and swam away. I haven't seen him since.


I sure hope he didn't swallow that thing and choke.




Also, now there are four in the group of youngest ducklings at the lake and I thought I saw two more somewhere else. These ducklings are the ones that most likely hatched in late August. Mom sure kept them hidden well.

Wood ducks! Plus a bossy duckling seems sick

Lots of wood ducks have been seen lately. Here is a photo of Doodle, the old beat up drake. His right eye is now totaly swollen shut:




Here's a video of the wood duck family with 5 almost grown ducklings. I think I found two of them over with Doodle and the other adult males.



The "bossy" duckling that is by himself has been very lethargic in the morning. I almost picked him up. But, later in the afternoon, he's out with the other ducks acting normal. So, I left him alone. I saw him today and he was sleeping on his feet. It might just be that he's not a morning ducky. Here's a video of him. He's a on a graded boat ramp, so that's why he walks funny:



Just for fun, here is a video of the geese at the lake. I was feeding them romaine lettuce.



I also saw this new duck today:


Killdeer update:

George and most of his family seem to have moved away. Today, though, Killer was heard calling to another killdeer passing through. It's entirely possible that George flew over the hill to the San Diego River Channel as I got a strange response to some killdeer in the drainage ditch near the I-8 yesterday when they saw me.

RIP brown Chinese gander

The mean and nasty brown Chinese gander at Lake Murray went missing this week. He seemed fine last Sunday when someone chased him into the water. Louie, his white Chinese friend, led him to get fed by some kids and that was the last time I actually saw him. I thought I heard him way across the lake where they do the fireworks on Tuesday. Someone was walking a dog and he wasn't too far from the paved road and started to scream at the dog.

But, I thought that surely couldn't be him there all alone without Louie. Then, on Thursday, I checked again and saw and heard nothing. Today, I went and checked thoroughly where I last heard him and saw a big pile of brownish-gray feathers and goose down. I've seen this before and I think the brown gander got eaten by coyotes. I have no idea why he would ever go over there by himself except that someone told me that geese will isolate themselves if they are sick. He hasn't been acting right for the last couple of weeks and I don't think he ate that much. So, maybe his mind wasn't right.

Louie

In the meantime, Louie is all alone and most of the rest of the flock do not accept him. He is, however, trying to befriend a pair of ganders who are also outcasts.



In Killdeerland, Georgina disappeared and then returned with Spike. They seem to be flying around a lot, checking out the good places to eat and play.

Georgina going through her first molt

Spike

I saw the wood ducklings again, down to seven, but almost 3 weeks old:


The bossy ducklings seem to have one missing. But, I think the one went off by himself. Mom seems to know where he is and he doesn't seem to want to go back with her.



Today, one of Ducky's ducklings was seen off by herself, too. Very cute. You can still see a little fuzz on her.



Curly is looking good in his transitional feathers:



All of the boat dock ducklings are fine, too, as far as I know. Here's a slideshow I did on them:



And, Pip and Peeper are back at Lake Murray! They still stick together and are doing very well. They're even accepted by the flock and go off with the other ducks when the flock moves around.




Other birds:

I got a shot of a hooded oriole:




And, a nuttall's woodpecker:



Here are some baby grebes:




Wood ducks:



And, a weird wood duck drake with a problem with a hole in his bill. That's his tongue hanging out from his chin.