Nobbling your rivals!

[Adam Cheeseman]

Last year I witnessed a curious going-on on one of our lakes. A pair of Great Crested Grebes had raised a couple of chicks and were out and about when one of the youngsteres started to struggle and thrash around. I assumed a pike was having a go at it from below but, after the chick had eventually drowned, another adult Great Crested Grebe emerged beside the body of the chick and was then chased off by the parent birds. The saboteur was one of a second pair that nested on the same lake.

Anyone else witnessed this sort of thing or similar?

Cheers,

Adam

[mrs fish]

I know cootes drown their weakest young, not nice.

[aeshna5]

Originally Posted by Adam Cheeseman

Last year I witnessed a curious going-on on one of our lakes. A pair of Great Crested Grebes had raised a couple of chicks and were out and about when one of the youngsteres started to struggle and thrash around. I assumed a pike was having a go at it from below but, after the chick had eventually drowned, another adult Great Crested Grebe emerged beside the body of the chick and was then chased off by the parent birds. The saboteur was one of a second pair that nested on the same lake.

Anyone else witnessed this sort of thing or similar?

Cheers,

Adam

Adam-never heard of this- fascinating if tragic observation. It might be worth sending a brief piece about this to British Birds magazine as they have a section on unusual behaviour + this would probably qualify.

[RobSutton]

We get a lot of competition between coots and great-crested grebes, and between coots and coots and grebes and grebes, for nesting sites (nests often change hands a couple of times) but I've never seen a grebe kill another's chick.

[glsammy]

I've never witnessed this, but I have seen Coots attack their own young, even though there was plenty of food about. I got some shocking shots of one such attack last year. To gruesome to post here.

[Kymba]

Coots are very aggressive Birds... I use to work as a volunteer for the London Wildlife Rescue Centre in Wallington Surrey, and they were the most aggressive birds i handled apart from Swans....