Here we go, some updates on the adventures of our Grebe family.
Babies are growing fast, now almost keeping up with the parents on the marathon swim across the dam.
Not sure, but I think we may have lost one of the babies in the last couple of days.
I'm having trouble choosing the photos to upload, too many kept really.
But anyway, here are some for you all.
(M-L, I've included one of the parents having a scratch, shows the foot a little clearer.
A lot similar to the feet on your Favourite Pictures post I think)
Enjoy!
Chris
O, they are so beautiful Chris
Thanks so much for the photo that shows the feet, yes they do look just like the feet of the Baby and adult Coots..
And good luck to the Grebe family.
M-L
We are definitely down to only two babies, does anyone know whether the parents take part in "Natural Selection" process?
There is a huge size difference in the two remaining babies, and today I noticed the parent appeared to prefer feeding one over the other. Might be my imagination, but almost seemed to be chasing the smaller one away.
Anyway, here's a couple of updated photos. We have the tiniest fish in our dam, I've noticed them before - only about 2.5cm and I've included a photo where the parent has just caught one.
M-L, I have a couple with the larger baby extending a leg behind. To me it looks as if the foot shape is a little different to the coots?
I think that the grebe feet are basically webbed to the first joint, then the webbing splits to either side of each toe. Any thoughts?
Chris
Thanks Chris, you might be right about the feet, they look different, but I have never seen them
One of the babies does look a lot bigger, and I have seen the same with one of three Wren young, the mother left the smallest under a shrub, when she called it and it didn't follow, she just left it there and although the young kept calling for a long time, she never went back to feed. Must have been something wrong with it.
It's nice to get a running report, thanks.
M-L
Araminta, there might be some natural selection at play with the superb fairy-wrens. Some raptors are adept at selecting the genetically strongest to survive & I'm wondering if that was what the superb fairy-wren parent was doing.
The other thing that occurs to me is that it's perhaps surprising that the young one under the shrub wasn't fed by others in the family. I believe that the young from preceding broods join in the feeding of the latest brood.
The grebes might be a different situation,Chris, in that the young are good tucker for predators. Have you seen any raptors about that might have made meal of a young grebe?
Yes Woko, there have been some raptors about, which could explain the first missing baby.
We've had a Whistling Kite about 6 weeks ago, a Black Shouldered Kite about a month ago and two Wedgetails yesterday that I've seen and been able to identify (with help from this forum), so obviously they are around the area.
As of today we still have the two remaining babies, the family seems to be sticking to the more sheltered edges of the dam. The smaller one is still being fed, much to my relief I saw the mum ignore the larger one and swim across to feed the smaller.
Yesterday it looked like she tried to drown the smaller one, definitely attacked it which raised my concerns.
Maybe it's just an annoying child - I always know where they are because I can hear it calling out constantly - must drive the mum nuts.
Thanks for your comments.
Cheers
Chris
Chris, I've seen adult New Holland honeyeaters attack young ones who are still trying to be dependent. I've interpreted this as the adult New Holland honeyeaters teaching their young to be independent. So I wonder if adults of other species such as your parent grebe also "attack" their young when they're teaching them to be independent.
Mind you, my interpretation might be quite off the mark & there could be some entirely different explanation for the adult behaviour.
Hi Woko, your interpretation is spot on, most birds in my garden try to chase the young away when they are old enough to feed themselves. When the parents start a new brood, the young ones have to leave.
Yes, I know the last generation of wrens help feeding the next lot. I'm not certain what happened to the little one under the shrub?
And Chris, for years we had Wedge-tailed Eagles come to feast on our Wood Duck chicks. After the parents lost all their babies 3 years in a row, they moved out to live in a better place.
Good luck with yours.
M-L
Latest update.
Sadly we have lost the smaller of the two babies, from observation it was scared to go into the vegetation and basically sat just outside on the edge of the open water most of the time. Final sighting was about a week ago.
The remaining baby is probably three-quarter adult size now, pic from this morning below.
I was surprised to see the mum and bubs were right out in the middle of the dam, especially when THIS was watching them from the Bird Tree. I guess they are safer where they can see the watcher? With their ability to disappear really quickly underwater perhaps that was the plan.
Chris
Thanks for the update Chris. I have to say, I noticed the same thing on my local lake. I haven't seen more than two young with the same couple, but noticed that later there was always only one left that grew up. Not sure about the Black-shouldered Kite? There might be enough mice on your property, and he's not interested in Grebe snacks.
M-L