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--B_3517567833_747657 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="ISO-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable I=B9m hoping there=B9s an expert on Pied-billed Grebes on naturens who can provide insight. I=B9ve been watching a pond for the past month & a half with nesting Grebes. Last year they fledged two broods (or there were two families on the pond successively). This year I saw two Grebes early in May for about a week and then only one until this past Monday when she finally came out of the reeds with 5 little ones tagging along. So now there were two adults to be seen but they were never together. Wednesday I took my usual daily de-stressing trip to the pond to see them all. I was able to find one adult with (eventually) one baby (but no sign of the other 4) which she was dutifully feeding when the male flew over beside them, paddled around next to them for a few seconds and then proceeded to viciously attack the baby. The little guy managed to get away and popped up 20 or 30 feet away and the male again went over and attacked the baby. I only had my binns with me and no camera but the last image I saw was the male with the baby=B9s head firmly clamped in his mouth a= s he thrashed it about. Again, somehow he managed to survive and much later I found him snuggling up to mom for a while before she started catching food for it. All the while the female made no attempt to stop the attacks. She followed them around but never intervened. When I returned to the pond Thursday there were no babies at all to be found. Needless to say I am NOT happy with him!!! I know male lions will kill young to force the female to go back into estru= s so that he can pass his genes along but I=B9ve never heard of this behaviour in birds. Does anyone have any kind of insight on this? Is this normal behaviour in Grebes? Do other birds practice filicide? Thanks Ian Woodman --B_3517567833_747657 Content-Type: text/html; charset="ISO-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable <html><head></head><body style=3D"word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: s= pace; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size:= 14px; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><div>I’m hoping there’= s an expert on Pied-billed Grebes on naturens who can provide insight.</div>= <div><br></div><div>I’ve been watching a pond for the past month &= a half with nesting Grebes. Last year they fledged two broods (or there wer= e two families on the pond successively).</div><div><br></div><div>This year= I saw two Grebes early in May for about a week and then only one until this= past Monday when she finally came out of the reeds with 5 little ones taggi= ng along. So now there were two adults to be seen but they were never togeth= er. Wednesday I took my usual daily de-stressing trip to the pond to see the= m all. I was able to find one adult with (eventually) one baby (but no sign = of the other 4) which she was dutifully feeding when the male flew over besi= de them, paddled around next to them for a few seconds and then proceeded to= viciously attack the baby. The little guy managed to get away and popped up= 20 or 30 feet away and the male again went over and attacked the baby. I on= ly had my binns with me and no camera but the last image I saw was the male = with the baby’s head firmly clamped in his mouth as he thrashed it abo= ut. Again, somehow he managed to survive and much later I found him snugglin= g up to mom for a while before she started catching food for it.</div><div><= br></div><div>All the while the female made no attempt to stop the attacks. = She followed them around but never intervened.</div><div><br></div><div>When= I returned to the pond Thursday there were no babies at all to be found. Ne= edless to say I am NOT happy with him!!!</div><div><br></div><div>I know mal= e lions will kill young to force the female to go back into estrus so that h= e can pass his genes along but I’ve never heard of this behaviour in b= irds.</div><div>Does anyone have any kind of insight on this? Is this normal= behaviour in Grebes? Do other birds practice filicide?</div><div><br></div>= <div>Thanks</div><div>Ian Woodman</div></body></html> --B_3517567833_747657--
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