And Then There Was One

George and the remaining Peeper

My apologies for the delay in posting, yet again.  It’s taken me a few days to figure out how to write this objectively, and without cussing.  It continues to be a rough road for the cygnets this year.   One of the two remaining cygnets was grabbed by a snapping turtle, just behind one of his legs.  I’ll spare you the gory details of the injury.  A rescue group was contacted & he was taken to an avian veterinary hospital, but the damage to the tendons was too great.

I spoke with a wildlife rehabilitator, who is very knowledgeable about waterfowl in general, and about the predators that pose the greatest danger to them.   I had a lot of questions because the location of the injury seemed very unusual.  What it came down to was this:  There were three men fishing at the lake that evening.  They were casting, then slowly drawing the lure back in to attract the fish, and they were doing this near where the swans were located.  By doing this, they brought the snapping turtles closer to the surface, as they were going to go where the fish were going.  The Peeper was very possibly just in the way of a turtle going for a fish, and was in the wrong place at the wrong time.  So, while the cygnet died because of a snapping turtle, his death was very probably a direct result of irresponsible fishermen.

Don’t get me wrong.  I have no issues with fishing for sport or for fun.  I do, however, have issues with people who fish without regard to the wildlife that live there.  These same three men left at least two soft lures laying in the grass where they could easily have been ingested by a duck, goose or swan.  Like I said, irresponsible.  I have now been added to the list of those who have permission from the community to run off anyone fishing at the lake if they don’t have written permission to be there, and believe me I plan to do just that.    There’s still one cygnet to protect, and I’ll be damned if I’ll let idiots endanger its life.  (Oh, and I almost made it without cussing!  😉 )

The Lone Peeper

The Lone Peeper relaxing

There have been a lot of fun, entertaining and/or interesting things happening at the lake as well.  It hasn’t all been bad!  For instance, Martha is in the middle of her annual molt.  Her beautiful flight feathers are scattered all over the shore.

Half of Martha’s wing feathers are gone, temporarily

The lack of flight feathers doesn’t keep her from reigning over the geese. She still rules, but at a much slower pace.

George, showing off the fact that he still has his wing feathers. (His turn’s next, but I don’t want to burst his bubble.)

Dinner with dad

George needs a bib. And a good face scrubbing. Any volunteers?

I was really surprised to see Cedar Waxwings still hanging around.  They usually just pass through as they migrate, but one pair apparently decided to stay for awhile.

Cedar Waxwing

Cedar Waxwing

There was a whole lotta’ peeping going on in a bush near the water, so of course I had to investigate.  I found this little fuzzball hiding out.  He was pretty small, but trust me when I tell you that he has some pretty impressive lung power.  I couldn’t figure out what type of bird he was going to grow up to be, so I decided to hang back a bit and see if a parent would show up.

Mystery baby

After about five minutes, dad showed up with dinner.  What a nice surprise to find out I’d just seen my first baby Baltimore Oriole!  (I owe my friend Jerry a thank you here.  I originally assumed this was the mom, but he let me know that the dark orange coloring belongs to the male while the female is more yellow.  This year marks the first time I’ve gotten to see these birds, so I appreciated the information.)

Dad with dinner

A target that’s tough to miss!

I hadn’t seen the female Wood duck in about a month, then suddenly she showed up very briefly two nights in a row to join in on a cracked corn and whole oats dinner.

Wood Duck hen

Then she disappeared again for a few days.  Night before last, she showed up again but seemed wary of approaching which was unusual for her.  Then two little ones came into view!  She kept a pretty good distance (thus the grainy photo) until I left the area.

My Wood Duck friend with her two little ones

She showed up with the little ones again last night, but I only had to back up about 30 feet before she felt comfortable coming to get the corn.  Unfortunately, there were storms building and the light was still horrible.

Two baby Wood Ducks

Wood Duck family

The two baby Wood Ducks (Wood Ducklings? Wood Duck Ducklings? How much wood would a Wood Duck chuck…)

And I was entertained by five young Northern Rough Winged swallows who landed in a tree right in front of me.  They sat and waited while the parents swooped all over the lake, trying to catch enough bugs to feed all of them.

Young Northern Rough Winged Swallows, waiting for a food delivery

Finally, as I said earlier there was a storm building in the area.  The clouds were slowly billowing upward, and there were streaks of clouds around them that showed just how strong the winds were up there.   The next three photos were taken with about 30 seconds in between.

Storm clouds

Storm clouds

Storm clouds

Thanks for taking a walk with me!