Category: little grebe

The little grebes have entered the breeding season.

On April 16th
I found a little grebe nest. Here, the little grebes build the nest by piling up dead leaves, small twigs, algae (waterthyme), etc. on the stems of running reeds that have fallen into the river. It is called floating nest because it floats on the water. Objects that can be used as support include tree branches hanging down to the river, and running reeds growing in the water. This year, nest building is about a month later than last year.
There is a nest at the end of the arrow in the next image.

In the next image, there is a little grebe near the nest. It does not lay an egg. I’m concerned about the presence of a turtle. I once saw a turtle eating eggs of a little grebe.
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On April 17th
There is a little grebe on the nest. It does not lay an egg.

On April 18th
A little grebe laid its first egg.

April 19th.
　It is incubating an egg. Grebes begin incubating eggs immediately after laying eggs.

There is one egg laid on the 18th. No eggs laid today.

On April 20th.
We see one egg. No additional eggs are laid.

A little grebe is incubating an egg.

The chick of little grebe was incubating an egg.

One unhatched egg was left in the nest.

One egg is left

The chick was incubating the egg while the parents were away from the nest. The chick was 6 or 7 days old. We once observed children incubating eggs on June 7, 2021 (See website.). Only one of the three chicks incubated the egg.  We would like to know the sex of the chick, but it was not possible. Unfortunately, this egg did not hatch.

incubating
incubating

It is too early to conclude from this observation alone that the chicks will incubate the eggs. More observations are needed.
The following site showed the other chick incubating the eggs (website).

See the video for the rest of the story. Please subscribe to my channel on YouTube. The name of account is “hachi ai“.

A chick of little grebe swallowed a dragonfly.

The parent caught a dragonfly. The chicks were puzzled because the food was so large, but it swallowed the dragonfly. See the video for details.

The parent offered a dragonfly.
The chick bit a dragonfly.
The chick started swallowing dragonfly.

See the video for the rest of the story. Please subscribe to my channel on YouTube. The name of account is “hachi ai“.

Sudden downpour washed away the nest of little grebe

July 9 morning, 2022
The little grebe warms the eggs.


July 10 moring, 2022
Mom and Dad take turns warming the eggs


There are three eggs in the nest.


July 11 morning
The bird is holding the eggs still.


Sudden downpour of 120 mm per hour hit at around 8:00 p.m. on July 12.

July 13 evening
Torrents have brought down bushes and reeds.


Sudden downpour washed away the little grebe’s nest.

The second egg-laying of little grebe

The little grebe lay eggs for the second time this year at the mouth of the Moro River. The male and female take turns warming their eggs. The floating nest must be constantly piled with fallen leaves or it will submerge. We hope the eggs hatch safely.

There are eggs in the nest. We don’t know when they were laid.

The bird is holding the eggs still.

Floating nest must be constantly piled with dead leaves or it will submerge.

A child born in the spring came to see how things were going.

Mom and Dad take turns warming the eggs.

The chick of the little grebe hatched on its own!

The chick of little grebe hatched on its own while mom was out. First, a small crack appeared in the shell, the crack gradually widened, and then the shell cracked. Finally, the chick opened the shell on its own and came out of the shell. After hatching, the chick crawl under its mom’s wings on its own. August 29, 2021.

Hatching scene

This is about 2 minutes and 30 seconds after the shell cracks.

It took about 12 minutes and 30 seconds for the chick to fully emerge from the shell.

Summary
What the author can say from this observation is that the little grebe chicks may not be pecking at the eggshell. As their curled-up bodies stretch, stress is applied to the eggshells, causing the shells to crack.
The little grebes are so-called carnivores, and the chicks get the right food to eat from their parents. The chicks may not have the strength to peck at hard objects.

Timestamp of video
0:38　Small cracks in the surface of the shell.
1:28　The shell cracked.
1:44　The shell opened.
2:45　The head of the chick came out of the shell.
4:53　The body of the chicks came out of the shell.
6:00　The hatched chick entered under mom’s wings.

About of the hatching of little grebe (Nov 23, 2021).
When the little grebe lays an egg, it immediately begins to warm the egg. It lays one egg a day for several days. And, the eggs hatch one by one a day.
The spot-billed ducks and swallows begin to warm eggs all at once after they accumulate. I have not seen the hatching scene of spot-billed ducks, but all the chicks of spot-billed ducks are hatching on the same day.

Hatching scene of little grebe

Egg-laying ⇒ appearance of a crack in the shell ⇒ hatching
This video is a series of scenes that an egg laid on August 6, 2021 hatched on August 28. The egg cracked and finally the parent bird removed the egg membrane and the egg cracked and the chick hatched. The little grebes begin to warm their eggs immediately after laying them. They lay one egg a day for several days. Then they hatch one per day.

0:00 Egg-laying
1:02 Appearance of a crack in the shell
1:23 Hatching


In this video, the chick hatched while the parent bird was holding the eggs. The next day, while the parents were out, the chick hatched. The following post describes the situation. ⇒ New post

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