The young white wagtail was hungry and perched on a stone. Mommy brought food to it. I started shooting using the digital zoom function of SONY RX10M4. It has its power. Three in a row. May 29, 2021, Ope River, Moroyama Town.
In general, bird chicks stay in the nest and are fed by their parents. Chicken chicks and ducklings, on the other hand, forage for their own food shortly after they hatch. These parent birds do not feed their chicks. In the case of the spot-billed duck, there are 12 chicks at a time, and it would be impossible for the mother to feed them.
The author encountered the following scene on a day of heavy rain. Due to heavy rain, the Ooyagi River was risen. The spot-billed chicks were hungry because they had less food to feed. There was a mulberry tree by their side, and their mom was full, eating mulberries, but the chicks were able to pick up a mulberry but could not eat it. A chick did not eat after picking the fruit with the beak and poking it smaller. Mom repeatedly came near the mulberry tree. Probably because a lot of mulberry fell. We are confirmed that there is an exception, although the spot-billed chicks are said to eat the same foods as their parents. Taken on June 6, 2019.
In the Ope River in the town of Moroyama, white wagtails and Japanese wagtails were preying on mayflies that had eclosed on the surface of the water. Mayflies are preyed upon immediately after they eclose on the surface. Some mayflies escape into the forest without being preyed upon. Some of the mayflies do not eclose properly and are unable to fly. I observed them from April 15 to around April 25.
I noticed the eclosing of the mayflies because of the constant fling of the wagtails. However, it was difficult to see them eclosing. Even when they do eclose, most of them are soon preyed by the wagtails.
Before sunset, the mayflies were eclosing on the surface of the water. Even after they eclosed and flew away, most of them were preyed upon by water sliders. Although rare, I saw two cases of mayflies attacked by water striders in five days. The mayfly that was attacked could not fly. The water sliders are sucking the mayfly’s bodily fluids.
