UKBirder23
Well-known member
I've been keeping an eye on a pair of Great Crested Grebes nesting in my local marina. The first egg hatched on Wednesday, second hatched on Friday. I went to see them this morning, and only the female was there on the nest, looking around quite a bit. No sign of the male or the two chicks. A few minutes later, she left the nest, with the third egg still in it, and swam off into the river, calling quite regularly. She came back to the nest about twenty minutes later and swan around it a bit.
I had to go off then, but came back later and there's not a grebe in sight, just the one egg sitting in the nest, which several Mallards are now using as a diving board (getting in early practice for the Paris Olympics, no doubt). Does this sound like normal behaviour, or should I assume that the male and two chicks met with disaster on their first foray into swimming, and the female simply doesn't know what has become of them? Or have they just gone into hiding as young juvenile birds often do? Thanks.
I had to go off then, but came back later and there's not a grebe in sight, just the one egg sitting in the nest, which several Mallards are now using as a diving board (getting in early practice for the Paris Olympics, no doubt). Does this sound like normal behaviour, or should I assume that the male and two chicks met with disaster on their first foray into swimming, and the female simply doesn't know what has become of them? Or have they just gone into hiding as young juvenile birds often do? Thanks.