Psilos
Bird Journal |
Sunday October
29th 2006 |
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"Catch
your own! " |
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After a whole week
of bad weather I finally got out for a very brief visit to Moses Gate
to catch up with the juvenile grebes. My first scans did not find them
but I knew they had to be there. What I did find where good numbers
of Goosander, a bird I always like to watch here in winter and which
were easy to spot as their pale white throats and bellies caught the
bright morning sun and shone out like beacons. These are very wary birds
that always stay out in the middle of the lake. Getting close enough
for decent photographs just isnt ever very likely. |
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Walking round the bottom end
of the lake I found the grebe family. Three juveniles and two adults
and still very much a family group. They were busy fishing but as usual
in this area they werent catching that many fish. With the light behind
us the grebes looked really beautiful. |
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Eventually, as expected they
made their way back to the centre of the lake where they rested and
preened for a time and then as predicted they made their way up the
top end of the lake where fishing is always good. One of the chicks
was being very vocal in pestering one of the adults for food and all
seemed well until.... |
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The adult bird turned and attacked
its offspring. Viciously lunging with its sharp beak it drove the juvenile
off until it was out of range and no longer begging for food. After
all the hours of watching I have never seen the adults do this and I
guess now the time has come when the adults are breaking their ties
and making the youngsters catch their own fish. In fairness the juveniles
are doing very well and catching alot of their own fish but i dont think
it will take many attacks like this before the begging stops. Despte
the attack the adults are still bringing fish to the juveniles and only
seem to attack if the begging gets too insistant at present. In the
next week or two I think the adults wills top feeding the juveniles
altogether and they will be on their own. |
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Took some more
photographs of the juveniles fishing at close quarters but this time
the grebes didnt hang around and my own youngsters were beginning to
get hungry so it was time to leave. Before leaving I had my eye on a
beautiful red reflection cast by a lifeguard ring on the water. It was
begging to have a bird photographed there and whilst the grebes would
not oblige the coots I thought looked quite stunning. |
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