Least Terns and more missing ducks

All last week, I went out and helped San Diego Audubon get ready for least tern nesting season.  The terns will be arriving soon!  I helped set up decoys, helped with grid-ding, and helped with pulling more weeds. We mostly worked on Fiesta Island with a little bit of work at Mariner's Point.

The picture below is of decoys being counted and getting ready to be placed.  It sorta looks like a tern massacre, lol.

This is the famous Stony Point hummingbird who likes to sit near the gate at the Stony Point nesting area:

Here is one of the views from Stony Point:

Lots and lots of horned larks on Fiesta Island:

And, the resident killdeer where there.  Here's one from Mariner's Point:

Here's one from North Fiesta Island where they had a nest by the end of the week.  This is dad being very watchful.

This is mom on her nest.  I didn't want to set a bad example and get too close to the nest to see exactly how many eggs she had (I saw at least two from a distance).  I really don't need to know if I'm not monitoring their nest, anyway.

I think they had at least one chick survive to adulthood, last year, and I think he was still hanging around.

I have a lens on Squidoo about helping the California least terns.  Click on the link to see it.

At Lake Murray, I noticed Big Daddy acting sick and lethargic.  It could just be because he's molting.  He and Cinnamon's old boyfriend were ganging up on Cinnamon's Twin's Twin. (Mostly it was the other ducks, not him that was doing it because he was acting sick).  When I tried to stop them from seriously hurting her, a lady fishing with her kids berated me for interfering.  Last year, I saw a domestic duck literally get "bred to death" while on land, so I didn't want it to happen to Cinnamon's Twin's Twin.

Also, I think I will have to say goodbye to Cow, the magpie duck dropped off last year with the big flock of black and white ducks.  She was a favorite of the males and also one of the smallest.  I suspect she drowned just like Cinnamon did.  She was the only one I named from that group.  Like Cinnamon, I really hope she's just sitting on a nest somewhere and will be seen, soon.

Shame on these people who dump these ducks.

A day at the beach: At the Tijuana River Mouth

Before anyone asks, no, I didn't go swimming or wading in the water.  I came to this area to look at birds and practice digiscoping (which didn't go well).  But, I got to see snowy plovers and other birds.

This least sandpiper was checking me out to make sure I wasn't going to be trouble for anyone.

Many of the black-bellied plovers are turning into breeding plumage:

Many, many western sandpipers, a lot of which were half-buried in the sand:

And, of course, I got lots of photos of the snowy plovers themselves:

It looks like there's one little plover in a nest or something.  Or, just resting.  I think it was a female checking out a male's nest scrape (in the middle of the photo under the one standing upright; May be hard to see).  Not a good area to nest as vehicles drive through this area.  There's a big area set aside just for them about 100 feet away.  But, they don't seem interested:

There was also a massive amount of terns there, mostly royal terns, hanging out with the gulls.  And, lots of curlews and a few whimbrels.

RIP Duckies

RIP Bumblefoot's mate

This is the time of year that can be tough because that's when you lose your favorite friends.  Always happens, every year about this time.  Usually, I start to feel good about this time of year because I feel that the worse is over with the ducks surviving the long, dark coyote nights of winter.  And, breeding season is winding down, so I feel good about the females that survive this time.  I thought we were beginning to head into the good time of year of ducklings and healthy ducks.  But, nope, that's when the favorites start to die or disappear.

I found out that it was Bumblefoot's mate that was the source of all the feathers under the osprey nest at Lake Murray.  Apparently, he died at about the same time that Cinnamon disappeared.  His body was found near where he and Bumblefoot like to lay and wait for people to feed them.  Bumblefoot, who can barely walk sometimes, is OK and seems to be very lonely.  She is looking for male companionship with the mallards who don't find her attractive.  The other male Pekin that used to hang out with them has deserted the area.

Bumblefoot alone.

Bumblefoot does not want to come near me anymore and does not respond to her name.  Her mate was so friendly and often brought her over to me when I called.  But, she is cold to me now.

I also found out that when Cinnamon was last seen, she had a profound limp for an unknown reason.  It could have been a fishing line injury, but I'm not sure.  It looks like she was last seen the day she disappeared last week.  When I last saw her, she was healthy and vibrant.  Now, I suspect she may have been drowned by her mates.  But, I hope she's maybe on a nest or perhaps taken to a rescue, though I haven't heard any reports of anyone rescuing her.

Cinnamon about 10 days before she disappeared.

Gaddy and his mate are also missing, but I suspect they just moved to a different area and she could be on a nest.  Good news about Neo:  His wing seems to be much better and I think he will be flying, soon.  He is still hanging out with Indy and Indy's brother who are always play-fighting.  Nothing serious, just a little wrestling between boys.

In killdeer news, I still haven't seen Junior.  He generally arrives around mid-April, though last year he arrived in early March with his mate arriving in mid-April.  I'm hoping he's OK.

I think this might be his ultra-friendly son.

Big Stretch!

Smudge is so cute and friendly:

Smudge's young mate:

Squeak, Smudge's mother, was seen in the ballfields with Pollux, her mate.  They were harassing another male in the fields.  I think that other male might be Smudge's brother who should be off on his own getting his own mate.  It wasn't serious, but I think Pollux is annoyed by his presence.
 

Cinnamon's missing

I visited the lake to check up on Bitey and Neo this afternoon and noticed all of Cinnamon's boyfriends by the boat dock--but no Cinnamon.

Later, I came back and found all her boyfriends where I usually see her this time of day, but, still, no Cinnamon.  I looked up and down everywhere and found not even a feather of her.  There is a lot of brush there, though, so she could have been stashed anywhere around there.  Or, she could be sitting on a nest.  I did hear a nearby hissing when I passed by a certain bush near where I usually see her.  But, that could have been a human or even another duck on a nest.  I looked through the bushes and still found no sign of her.

I've never seen this happen before.

I did finally find Oreo among all the other boyfriends.  They, then, all swam together around and around.  Usually, when they're with Cinnamon, they root around along the shore.  But, not tonight.  They just swam around.

Bitey is doing fine, by the way.  And, I thought I saw Neo pull his wing into a normal position for a second.  He's hanging out with Indy who bullies around Bitey.  Later, Indy, his brother, and Neo all went to this one area, but some people fishing threw rocks at him.  Indy and his brother flew off, but Neo was having a hard time getting away and I think he might have gotten hit.  :(

Bad news about Neo

I have bad news about Neo.  I've been seeing this duck with a hurt wing for almost a week now, but never got a good look at him until today.

Someone was feeding him with Indy and another small duck that might be Indy's brother along with Sweetie. I recognized him as Neo immediately, but wasn't a 100% sure and I really didn't want it to be him.  So, I took a photo to compare with Neo's other photos.  Sadly, yes, this does look like Neo in all aspects.  He will be one year old in a few weeks.

There are several ducks with hurt or broken wings at Lake Murray that have been flightless for over a year or more, so Neo still has a chance to live on.  I suspect he got hurt fighting with his mother's mate.  His mother may be on a nest nearby because it is that time of year when she nests.  Or, maybe Bitey got a hold of him.  But, I doubt it because the mallards like to boss Bitey around.  It doesn't look as bad as Pepper's or Hurt Wing's wings, but I haven't been able to see under it.  I'm hoping it's just sprained.

I've noticed that drakes with broken or hurt wings are rarely successful at breeding.

You might remember Neo from my Youtube Slideshow:  Neo, the Duckling that Lived!

Bitey's close call with bad humans:

Speaking of Bitey, I visited him today and gave him some food.  He also got another cup of food from someone else, so he got lots to eat this afternoon.  However, a lady told me that just before I arrived, several young men were surrounding him, feeding him something, and making comments that might indicate that they fed him poison or were going to hurt him.  They were also filming him with their cell phones.  When the lady came up, they were very rude to her, but they left.

I watched over Bitey for an hour and a half and I didn't see him acting unusual (for Bitey at least).  It's very possible that they were planning on doing something to Bitey, but the lady interrupted them.  I really need to get him a home, soon, before someone hurts or kills him.

Cooper's hawk and crow

I was hoping to get some interactions between the male Cooper's hawk above and the crows that it was harassing and attacking.  I often seen Cooper's hawk attacking crows, but I haven't seen any crows get killed, tough I know Cooper's hawks do kill and eat crows.  The crows didn't seem very terrified of the hawk which was a bit smaller than they were, being a male Cooper's and not a female.

This particular crow got injured by the hawk and recovered.  When she was hurt, another crow came and comforted her and gave her food.  But, when she was better and after she was flying OK, they all moved off.  I wasn't fast enough to get any photos of the attacks.

The hawk stayed in the three and looked around, but I don't think he saw two killdeer in the grass, frozen and silent.  There was a male and a female killdeer there.  I didn't even see them until after the crows flew off.  But, the hawk wasn't interested in them, he wanted the crows and flew over to where they were at.

Attacking crows must be a dangerous thing to do for a small hawk.  I'm really surprised the crows didn't gang up on the hawk.

Update on the domestics and killdeer

The bitey duck is still there and he's still bitey.  However, if you feed him promptly, he is not so bitey.  And, I've noticed that he only likes certain people, so the general public are not in any real danger of being bitten from what I've seen, unless some kid runs up and tries to chase him.  I gave him his food in a small bowl to which he spilled a third of it and then ate the rest, pushing the bowl around.  He then turned around and ate what was on the ground.  When I picked up the bowl, he tapped my shoe, but did not bite.

This scaup pigged out on the rice, too, when I moved away.  It's funny watching scaup walking on land.  After all the food was gone, the Pekin and the scaup were following me around.  I tried to lead the Pekin to some other Pekins, but as soon as he saw them, he turned around and went the other way.  Later, the Pekin's friend came to check up on him, but was detoured by two fishermen, so the two never got together.

Jill has been all alone lately.  I have no idea where her Canada goose friend and his white Chinese hybrid goose friend went to.  They probably went to a new place to eat and I just haven't found them, yet.  I thought those other two were both males, but maybe I was wrong and there's a female in that pair and maybe one is on a nest.

Louie comes up to Jill sometimes and makes googly eyes at her.  I think she's warming up to him and often grazes when he's nearby.

Louie often herds Jill to new places.  "Picked on" the Canada gander still hangs around, but keeps his distance when Louie is with Jill.  But, Jill and Louie are not a pair because if anything separates them or if Louie goes away, Jill does not follow.

The baby Canada goose (now two years old) just swims around calling, but doesn't hang around anyone most of the time.

 I saw some wigeons who look like they're starting to molt.  The mallards haven't started molted and they're late in doing so.  They should have started molting by now.

There were three wigeons by the lake walking path:

Smudge and her mate:

There are two male killdeer hanging out in Junior's territory.  One acts like Killer Jr, so I think he might be Killer's son, George IV.  The other might be his brother, or could be George III who generally travels with Junior who should be arriving soon.

And, I have a baby hummingbird in my yard.  Or, I did until a couple of days ago.  I think he's all on his own now and his mom has a new nest.

Bigboi, the Cayuga duck seems a lot better today.  Big Daddy is hanging out with Cinnamon.  I saw no sign of Oreo at all and I looked all over for him.  But, I did see him last week, so he might be OK.