Babes
Our coot chicks have hatched!
I've been watching Mum and Dad feeding tiny little morsels of food into the nest. Bread is off the menu, they are on little bits of moss and other greenery collected from the sides of the canal.
Oh No! A coot chick got caught in something in one of the Iris planters (the blueish-green boxes in the picture above) on the edge of the canal and was really stuck. It was getting tired and very water logged.
I really try not to interfere, but on this occasion it was the only chance it had so... out with the fishing net. I fished for it while my good neighbour called directions - being flat on my front hanging over the very high side of the canal I couldn't see much – but eventually was able to tip it back into one of the family nests. I really didn't think it had made it, it was very wet, the weather was cold and the parents were busily ensuring the other 3 chicks were safe.
Next morning the nest was empty but Mum and Dad had a full complement of chicks in tow! I don't know if that little one managed to survive or if the last remaining egg in the nest hatched.
At one point I'd had to bring the net close to me to be able to manoeuvre the chick to the front of it so that I could tip it out without hurting it. It looked cold and so very, very wet. It didn't look frightened at all; maybe it knew I was trying to help.
I'm not sure the parents have forgiven me yet though!
Toddlers
Coots are now beginning to "toddle" and poor mum is having a right old job keeping them tucked under her out of the cold. As fast as she tucks one little fluff ball back in the nest another one pops out and toddles off looking for Dad and the grub. Dad has taken to yelling for me to feed him "fast food" while he dives for baby food. He stuffs a bit of bread up against a twig near the nest and grabs a bite every time he passes it. The pressures of parenthood!
The coot toddlers discovered water this morning! Dad wasn't quick enough bringing the food, so they tottered forward and.... Plop!
The looks of surprise on their little faces! At that age they bob about like corks. There is a sort of gentle slope from their nest to the water and they soon found that and scrambled back to the safety of the nest, telling Mum all about the strange wet stuff they found out there in the big wide world. They are beginning to find their voices now too. In a few more days the air will be filled with piercing peeps of "Muuuuum! I'm hungry!"
Mum and Dad moved have the coot babes from the "nursery" nest to the newer "school" nest, they are having lessons today on how to feed themselves “just keep pecking at stuff, some of it will be edible” and "how to climb over something that is bigger than you". They are so funny when they try to mountaineer up an Iris stem
A new pair of coots are negotiating rights to use the nursery nest and it looks as if negotiations are going well! (Everyone is still alive and the aggression is in "formal dance" rather than "peck to the death" form.)
All of the little coot babes are going strong and misbehaving accordingly. An example or two…
Mrs & Mr Coot dive to the bottom of the canal to find morsels of food for the chicks. Mrs Coot had found something, surfaced, swam to the nest, climbed in and fed it to a chick, chick spat it out; Mrs Coot picked it up and fed the chick again, chick spat it out again… are you getting the picture? After 4 repeats of this Mrs C gives the chick a darned good peck on the back of the neck – chick finally swallows morsel.
We almost lost them!
The chicks were in the middle of the canal when one of the many boats to pass today came along. Not knowing what to do they swam along on front of the boat, trying to get away. The boatman spotted them, slowed right down, Mum and Dad surfaced (they had both been underwater foraging) and guided the chicks to one side.
BUT, by then they were in the territory of another pair of coots, one of whom attacked the chicks! Two were pushed underwater and were down for a while. They don't have their diving lungs yet, nor the plumage they need to be able to handle the depths so I thought that was curtains for those two.
One surfaced but there was nothing to be seen of the other, which was the youngest and smallest chick in the hatch. The parents were frantically searching for it, then, after what felt like ages, it finally surfaced on the far side of the canal, resourceful little thing had swum (OK been carried by the boat wash) back into it's own territory and over to the far side of the canal.
Next thing all my neighbours are out yelling at the boats to slow down so the chicks can get back to the nest safely. It's good to know so many people care what happens to the little fluff balls.
The babes are now safe and well, tucked under Mum for the night (sort of, they keep escaping when they think Dad might have something for them to eat). Dad appears to be very proud of littlest one for the mega-dive this afternoon and made special efforts to be sure the larger siblings did not take it's food
Far too much excitement for one day!
Came home today to find one of the chicks was missing, possibly the larger of the two attacked the other day. It turns out it drowned when it got trapped in a plant box out of reach of any nets. The rest are growing well, although littlest chick is still just half the size of its siblings.
Littlest coot chick appears to be very picky about food and is really not growing very fast, it is crying for food all the time but doesn't appear to eat very much of what it's parents offer, and they bring it lots of food. The other 3 chicks are already twice as big as it is. I'm very concerned, might toss some of the dhal I made yesterday to it to see if it eats that, but I suspect it is something more worrying than it just being picky.
Update - LCC just stuffed her face on Chana dhal... phew!
Kids
What a beautiful day it is! The sun is kissing the willows and the chaffinches are pausing to sing from the feeders. Mornings like this are what life is all about. A pair of cormorants were fishing their way down the canal earlier and I heard one of them call, first time I've knowingly heard that. It sounded for all the world like one of my bosses burping...
Yesterday I arrived home to see 4 fluffy little bottoms sticking up out of the canal. Diving lesson in progress! Biggest cootling is quite good now and can follow it's parents down for a bit. LCC can just about get her head under the water... bless.
The largest chick did its first "proper" dive today. They have what I think is their waterproofing growing in as white parches on their breasts now.
Well, the chicks now have their own nest to sleep in. But will they stay in it? Oh no... Mum puts them down and then moves a few yards off to her own nest. Then, as the dusk comes down you see her head getting higher and higher as first one then another of the not-so-little ones climbs in there under her.
Eventually she has a strop and moves over to the chicks' nest to have some kip. Then... You guessed it, back they come. She is so frazzled poor girl! I wonder how many broods she will raise this year?
A friend made an amazing discovery earlier today, unlike her siblings, littlest coot chick is not too keen on bread, but absolutely LOVES peas, and demolished a good handful of last night's leftovers for her breakfast this morning. She even dived to chase the escapees.
The coot chicks are looking all grown up these days and I think mum has started laying the next brood. Is she mad! There are now little families all along the canal, the mallard ducklings are also hatching, are they earlier than usual this year? Oh, and LCC is STILL making more noise than all the rest put together. The swan came by again last night - a respectful distance was kept by both of them.
The chicks have now decided they can feed themselves, Mum and Dad aren't so sure, and spend a lot of time racing around from chick to chick, hauling food out of the chick's mouths, examining it then stuffing it back in.
Well, the cheek of it! Mrs Coot is, I think, on the next batch of eggs already leaving Mr Coot in charge of the current batch of little ones. So what is his idea of child care? When the chicks start yelling for food does he immediately start foraging for them? Oh no... He paddles up to just below my balcony, listens out for me moving near the windows then yells his head off, getting the chicks to join in just to be sure I get the message!
Teenagers
I was watching the coots just before I went to work yesterday and witnessed what looked very like the following interchange between Mum and one of the bigger chicks. Mum was on the edge of the nest and the chick was sound asleep in it.
Mum - Get up!
chick - Mmmmnph
Mum - Get out of that bed!
Mum - Now!
Chick - InanminuteMum....
Mum - I won't tell you again
Chick - Awwright! awwright! I'm up.... Mmmmmmmmnph, zzzzzzzzzzzzzz
a few moments silence follows, then Mum moves closer to the nest
Mum - Will (peck) you (peck) get (peck) your (peck) lazy (peck) backside (peck) out (peck) of that (peck) bed! (peck) (peck) (peck)....
Do you think they might be teenagers now?
Already the chicks are learning the aggression so typical of coots, chasing anything that dares venture into “their” territory. They do not know yet that Dad has one final hard lesson for them.
Adults
The latest brood of chicks have hatched and the teenagers look like adults now, it’s time to leave home.
Mrs Coot has already lost interest in the first brood, chasing them off if they get too close. Dad now views the young adults as competition and has begun aggressively chasing them off if they approach him, they are so confused when this first happens. LCC lived on the other side of the canal for a few days before venturing out to make her own way in the big wild world.
Good luck little coot family.