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| TITLE: | Coot on twiggy nest with newly-hatched chicks
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| INFO: | "This is one of the first pairs of Coots to use one of the man-made floating twiggy nesting-islets usually put out each summer for this purpose around the front of Ivy South Hide (and also other areas of Ivy Lake) - they proved very popular! - certainly with the Coots. While one of the pair incubated the eggs, the other could be seen diligently going back and forth to add more material to the nest (twigs, reed stems, water weed).
This image was taken the day after the chicks hatched, I believe, or possibly even the day of hatching, as the chicks were very small. I love these funny-looking endearing little red-headed things! - very cute and very photogenic - well, very colourful anyway! There were seven chicks altogether, so a large brood to feed and keep an eye on. Frequently they could be seen right in front of the hide, being attended to by the parents, but here they have already returned to the nest to be brooded. I was not able to get back to photograph this family as they grew, but later, in June, it was nice to see the pair now with three large chicks, two-thirds the size of the adults and with good survival prospects - the other chicks, sadly, must have perished, either by predation or succumbing to bad weather, but getting three out of the seven chicks to near-adult size has to be classed a success for this pair of Coots. The islet was a little far out for the reach of my lens (even with 2x converter) and so quite cropped in for this web display image." May 2011 (Ivy South Hide) |
| TECH: | Nikon D700, Nikkor 200-400mm f4 zoom lens at 400mm with 2x teleconverter, ISO 1400, f16, 1/500 sec.
Hide shelf platform with ball head. Cropped image about 30% of frame. |
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