M.I.A.

The coots are gone, or nearly so. Two weeks ago, there were only about 25; last week about 15; today only 10. (Yesterday at Tri City Park in Placentia, CA, there weren't any.) So where do they go? More interestingly, how do they go? They don't fly well, at least in the park, so it's hard to imagine them taking a long journey by air. Do they hitchhike? Maybe they're like Monarch butterflies, which have migrating generations and non-migrating generations?

Egyptian goose and gosling: April 23, 2015

Also Missing In Action today was the singleton baby Egyptian goose. It was doing well a week ago, as this picture attests, Both parents were with it. But today only the parents were there, with no baby in sight. Sadness.

Ducklings in smooth water: April 23, 2015 

Another sadness is that this duck family is down to three babies. Last week, we watched the mom and ducklings work their way up a rock spillway to get from rough water to smooth. The mom didn't actively round up the little ones, though she chose a path that they could manage and probably was calling to them. 

Ducklings in rough water: April 23, 2015

The babies would run as fast as they could on top of the fast-moving water, take shelter from the current in the lee of some rocks, and then jump up the rocks to the smooth water above the spillway. It took some time for all five of the babies to get with the program, so it's not too surprising that a week later a couple of them have been swept away.

Canada goose on nest: April 11, 2015

I'd also been looking forward to greeting some baby Canada geese. The week after Easter we'd seen this mama bravely staying on her nest despite a wedding party just a few feet away. Unfortunately, the next week the nest was abandoned, and there weren't any Canada goslings in view.

Abandoned Canada goose nest

Still, there was hope, since a week later there was a Canada goose on a nest on a little island in the river. And it was still occupied after another week... but not today. Maybe they hatched and are happily swimming somewhere on the river. Maybe.

Canada goose on nest: April 18, 2015

When I was thinking about this post, I realized that we haven't seen the duck we call Blondie for a while. Can't even say when we saw her last -- at least a month ago. Hope she's just visiting friends in another park or sitting on a nest somewhere!

Blondie: March 27, 2015