The rains have been coming off and on today. The heat is tremendous under the weight of all the humidity. The birds seemed to be panting. 
They cooled off a lot in the bird baths.
The one baby and it’s mother were back. 
I noticed that there were actually two fledgling babies begging for food, but she refused to feed the second one, (in the middle) though both seem fine because if they have to eat on their own, they do, they are just lazy. 
The rejected baby at the bottom right of the photo finally got his own seed.
Have young jays coming in also, 
Got nice photo of the handsome young male
They hear me clicking the camera from at my desk inside and jump!
I had a baby thrasher come in and eat, then get exhausted and sat down to relax. 
I felt like that too, I had a hard time getting my camera to adjust to the heat outside, it took about ten minutes before I could defog my lens.|
The BOB’s, band of brothers stopped by for a drink, they ambled away into the steam of the afternoon. I walked down to the lake and saw the Mallard couple, the male is one of the BOM’s band of mallards from May, he was the weakest of them and they dominated him. 
The two stronger ducks left. The weaker link stayed here and took a mate. 
His foot was injured back then he was limping. The female stays with him all the time, the pair stay on the edge of the lake as they are shy of people and head right out on the lake when I get too close. 
He hobbles on the left leg. But today he got up and could hardly walk on it. 
It was so pathetic watching him swim off not using that leg. 
The leg looks broken poor guy. I hope the Band of Brothers don’t find him down there, they will take advantage of him for sure as they did with our sweet Carbs, the muscovy who was hanging out here last year until the BOB’s made him leave “their” lake, nature can be so very cruel. 
(That’s Carbs) What will happen? Oh, it is the secrets of the lake that keep us all guessing around here! Like, will I fish tonight? All I have to do is look at the lake to see the sky is telling me no! 
4 comments
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October 27, 2010 at 1:20 am
Danielle S
I actually have a question. I have 2 mallard ducks and 1 of them, the male, hurt his foot somehow. its swollen on both sides and his toe is bent up. we brought him inside and put food and water in front of him he’s eating and drinking but he doesn’t move much. He doesn’t seem too be cut but he’s definatley in pain and i hate to see my duckie hurting, do u know what i should do? – Danielle S
P.S. PLEASE HELP MY BABY!!
October 28, 2010 at 2:14 am
A.j.
Danielle, call some local vets in your area and ask if they know who rescues local wildlife, your local Fish and Wildlife Game Commission might also have information
June 20, 2012 at 10:54 pm
jean
If you call your local wildlife they don’t a thing. I had a injured mallard duck, his foot, and they came. I thought they would help the duck & he told me no they would shoot it. So do they help & rescue? No they don’t.
June 23, 2012 at 10:03 pm
A.j.
This is true, you can find some people that do rescue animals, but most of the time you call the Game division and they say you must trap it yourself or pay to have it trapped and removed, they are not looking to help injured animals. In Tampa there are crane and pelican rescues, but unless you have a local person that rescues, you are stuck watching something suffer…