At times I was afraid that the chick would drown as the parent dived right next to it.
So come and look at the action in here and be as amazed as I was.
Only the one chick is still alive and the parents guard it as best they can. Should any of the other coots on the dam come too close, the dad will rush in a hasty run on the water to usher the stranger out of his territory. Let's face it, even we don't like it when a stranger arrives at our house and he just starts to walk uninvited through the house.
We will run just as fast as that coot to chase the stranger out.
But not today as they were feeding the chick in peace.
A lovely family shot.
Here the parent simply started to dive down right next to the chick.
Boom! She was gone and the chick floated around waiting for her.
The danger is that if one of these Buzzards are around, he could easily snatch that little chick.
Another dive here and she almost kicked the chick in the action.
Look how close the chick was to her diving actions.
Eventually the dad arrived and he took over the diving tasks to fetch food for the chick.
A lovely united little family and sadly all of their other chicks were taken by predators.
So let's hope that this little one will survive, as there is nothing that the parents can do if a falcon, or any of the other big predator birds dive down to snatch the chick. The Harrier hawks and the Buzzards are also a constant daily threat.
I guess that this is the way of Mother nature to keep the bird populations balanced to meet the needs of the eco-system.
So all was well at this instance and we left the coots alone to do their thing.
And That's All Friends.
Photos by Zac Smith-All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Canon Powershot SX70HS Bridge camera.
