Birds in nature, landscape and others.
A long line of mallard ducks at the dam site. I was surprised to see them. I wonder how many there are. The following images were taken on December 17, 2021.
Video, taken December 17, 2021.
Baikal teals are in this group. Video, taken January 3, 2022.
I had heard that many Great Crested Grebes were wintering in Lake Sayama, so I went to see them on December 17, 2021. I arrived at the dam site at 12:50 p.m. I could see only a few Great Crested Grebes in the wide lake. I wondered where the other Great Crested Grebes were resting.
The photographer told us that they were in the center of the lake in the morning. We had to wait for them to come out. The remaining Great Crested Grebes were moving to the left side of the lake.
I saw a few Great Crested Grebes around the water intake tower, so I moved to the right bank.
At around 14:42, a few Great Crested Grebes started to appear around the water intake tower. They were moving to the right side. They seemed to be waiting for the next one.
As I gradually swung the camera to the left, the main group appeared. It was a large flock.
This area (image-6) seemed to be the tail end of the group. While watching the video, I did a quick count from the front, and there were 190 birds.
The flock of Great Crested Grebes seems to have passed on (image -7).
To my surprise, another group appeared.
In the middle of the image, where there is a long, thin glow (image-10), there is a flock of Great Crested Grebes. A quick count showed that there were 150 of them. I didn’t photograph some of them, but it seemed that there were about 400 in total.
A scene of a Great Crested Grebe catching a fish.
It was almost 16:00, and it was getting dark, so I finished shooting.
Here is the video.
In autumn, many winter birds arrive at the moat of the Imperial Palace. I took the videos of these birds as I walked down Miyakezaka. Please see the video for the birds, taken on November 11, 2021.
It was my first time to see the great crested grebes. I didn’t expect to see courtship behavior at this time of year. The location was Mizumoto Park, Katsushika-ku, Tokyo. The background music was created by myself using music notation software. The movie was taken on December 5, 2021.
Video taken at the time.
The autumn colors of the metasequoia forest reflected in the sunlight were impressive. The birds floating on the surface of the water added to the atmosphere of early winter.
Video
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.
This was the first time I saw Eurasian wigeons. I was told by a person I met while photographing that there were Eurasian wigeons at Kawagoe Suijo park. So I went to see them.
There were pigeons flying around.
A male Eurasian wigeon whistled “piyu-woo,” an impressive sound that echoed through the pond.
At first I couldn’t figure out what it was singing, but I was able to capture the bird singing.
The Eurasian wigeons came swimming in from the opposite bank.
The next video was taken at Water Park on November 8, 2021. It also includes the sound of chirping.
We see the migratory birds in September. I saw some birds for the first time.
To distinguish between male and female of common teal, I referred to the following website. https://www.nature-engineer.com/entry/2018/08/21/16
A duck with a large beak.
It might be on the way of the crossing, and it is not seen after this. October 6, 2021, Oppe River, Kubo Weir.