I spotted a female Grebe with 2 chicks tucked onto her back, waiting for the male to bring food back to the chicks. I was fascinated to watch the male teach the chicks how to accept food from him. He'd go far out in the lake and bring back fish for the chicks. After they dropped two of the fish, he quit hunting for awhile and picked up a feather to have his chicks practice with the feather! They dropped the feather a couple of times and he kept bringing it back to them. After they got the hang of it, he went back out into the lake and brought them a real fish. They didn't drop another fish the entire time I watched.
Never realized that waterfowl used tools to teach their young!
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| Male Grebe bringing fish to chicks |
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| Ooops chick drops fish into water |
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| Male grebe searches for dropped fish, chick lets out an awkward screetch |
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| Male Grebe brings feather to chicks to give them practice accepting food from his beak |
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| Chicks try to hang on to feather |
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| Chicks finally get the hang of accepting food from the male Grebe. The male returns to his hunting activity. |
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| Male brings back a real fish (instead of a feather) and the chicks grab it like experts. |
