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Posted by Roxanne on 13:48:02 09/30/08
The family of now four grebes lives to see another day despite threats of a nearby alligator. After debating whether or not to take a chance on today's 90% probability of rain, Jeanette and I arrived at the Yamato Scrub around 7:45AM. 6 other birders were there and reported watching a baby grebe swimming in the pond about 20 minutes prior to our arrival. Shoot! We watched one parent swim, dive and feed in the pond, while the other one sat on the nest. Through the scope I watched the parent on the nest kick out a piece of eggshell. To my delight I saw one baby topple off the parent's back, while another baby popped up in front of the parent. I could see the zebra-stiped faces and red spots on the crown. How cool is that?!!! This was confirmed by several birders. We watched for some time as the parents changed places sitting on the nest, taking turns diving for food and bringing it back to the nest to feed the baby grebes. Also, we observed one of the parents leave the nest with the two babies under wing. While swimming in the pond, every now and again the parent lifted its wings and the babies peeked out. Lucky for us we missed the rain, but not the birds.
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