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Writer's pictureTakashi Iwamoto

"Little Grebe Parenting" Part 2, Cold Rain

Updated: Aug 12, 2022


This blog introduces the breeding and child-rearing struggles of little grebes in Inokashira Park in 2017.


井の頭公園、カイツブリ、雨

Parents and children waiting for the rain to stop



On July 1st, I visited Little Grebe, which is raising children again, after a day.

The number of chicks that had four was reduced to two.

It continued to rain from night, and even after I arrived at the scene, the rain legs became stronger occasionally.


In such rain, the Little Grebe family seemed to wait for the rain to stop.

The floating nest is moist in the rain, almost submerged, and does not serve as a nest at all.

It seems that three chicks were alive until yesterday.

Have you been killed by a foreign enemy during the night? Or was it killed by the cold of the rain?


If it were a foreign enemy, would it be a snake? It seems that night herons were also observed many times, aiming at chicks, or perching on a tree branch just above this nest.


Aodaisho, a gangster who roams around the pond



The rat snake is wandering around the pond without fear of people, as it passes in front of Inokashira Park and the caretaker who is shooting.

In Africa, if snakes appear in front of people, they will be killed thoroughly, so it's hard to see snakes, and there are many poisonous snakes.


It's a big threat to such snakes and grebe chicks.


The chicks are always in danger from such natural enemies.

After starting the observation, the number of chicks is decreasing at a pace of one bird a day.


井の頭公園、カイツブリ、ずぶ濡れ雛

Hina getting soaked and sinking

In the rain, one chick was soaking her feathers and sinking.

I tried to climb the feathers of the parent bird many times, but I couldn't climb it.

The parent bird doesn't seem to know what to do, and shows little pretense to help the chicks climb their wings.

Every time the chick tries to climb its wings, the parent bird's body vainly slides on the surface of the water.

If nothing is done, the chick will die due to a drop in body temperature. Another chick seems to have escaped the difficulty in the feathers of the parent bird and slept soundly.


Even if you eat food, your body temperature is deprived and you lose your physical strength.



I still have an appetite because I was eating the food that I had brought.


However, in a short moment when she took her eyes off, the sinking chick disappeared somewhere before I knew it.

Did she sink? Has she been attacked by the enemy?

Either way, I'm very sorry.

If I could climb the feathers of the parent bird, the chicks would have been able to grow up.



Parent bird feeding the last remaining chick

Hina who does not want to get off the wings even if the rain stops, you can see that the left eye does not open completely



The rain stopped after noon.

The last surviving chick is the one with the thinnest food among the five chicks that have been observing since the start of observation, and the chick whose left eye cannot be fully opened.

Even if you can become an adult bird, it may be difficult to live in the wild.

But I want you to live anyway.


to be continued



This state of child-rearing of little grebes is summarized in the video "Child-rearing of little grebes, Chapter 2" Trials awaiting chicks ". If you are interested, please click it to see it.


 

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