I said that I will do another post about the wildlife at the dam.
The high trees at the dam offer an ideal hiding place for birds of prey to sit and watch for opportunities to capture the goslings and the chicks below in the water. I have a limit of 10 shots per post, and the previous post was full, and that is why I have not mentioned the chicks that I will show you in here. So, this is again a post with 10 shots, and you will see the amazing birdlife at this small dam.
Can you believe that 2 days ago was the first time that we again visited this dam after we found it about 3-4 years ago. And the funny thing is that the dam is about 2 km from our house. What I can say in defence is that the dam is situated in a secluded space with only a few houses overlooking it, and I think that's why the birdlife is so abundant here as there are very few disturbances.
What was that?
And it had a fantastic hairdo.
It is a Red-knobbed Coot (Fulica cristata).
Oh yes, those little chicks of the coots are so cute, you cannot believe it, but there is a very dark story about the parents raising the chicks.
I will let Wikipedia tell you.
Coots are omnivorous, eating mainly plant material, but also small animals, fish and eggs. They are aggressively territorial during the breeding season, but are otherwise often found in sizeable flocks on the shallow vegetated lakes they prefer.
Now for the dark story below about the coot lifestyle.
Chick mortality occurs mainly due to starvation rather than predation as coots have difficulty feeding a large family of hatchlings on the tiny shrimp and insects that they collect. Many chicks die in the first 10 days after hatching, when they are most dependent on adults for food. Coots can be very brutal to their own young under pressure such as the lack of food, and after about three days they start attacking their own chicks when they beg for food. After a short while, these attacks concentrate on the weaker chicks, who eventually give up begging and die. The coot may eventually raise only two or three out of nine hatchlings. In this attacking behaviour, the parents are said to "tousle" their young. This can result in the death of the chick.
This is the mom of that cute little guy up top.
Ever heard of a Malachite Kingfisher (Alcedo cristata)? Amazingly, the coots are also of the cristata species name, but look how different they are, as the malachite is much smaller and faster.
This mom has three chicks, and let's hope that the chicks will survive the rough treatment by the parents.
Here below was another coot in a different part of the dam, also with a chick (2 shots).
This is a great way to keep the Egyptian geese goslings safe, as the Speckled Pigeon (Columba guinea) on the pole was a watchman.
When that pigeon flies up very fast in fear then the goslings will scatter to a safe place as it means danger.
Amazing how nature can work itself out to keep a balance. For instance, in this post you read that the coots starve their babies to keep the numbers down, else their small dam will become overpopulated with coots when they all grow up. It is the same with so many other species, and we have seen the parents of other species also offering up their babies, until the numbers can be managed. The guineafowls, for instance, have a medium total of 13-14 babies, and only 2 or 3 survive after every batch of hatchlings. Nature has its own laws, and even if it doesn't work for us, you can believe me that it works in nature to control the eco-systems.
Such is life.
I hope you enjoyed the pictures and the story.
Photos by Zac Smith. All-Rights-Reserved.
Camera: Canon PowershotSX70HS Bridge camera.
Until next time, cheers!
