Diving Behaviour in Egyptian Geese

Zoe and I went for a walk round the lakes yesterday evening.  Near the northwest corner of the large lake we saw the pair of Egyptian geese (Alopochen aegyptiacus) taking off over the water, and there was a third goose - one of their by now fairly mature goslings following them up into the air, and then further back the three other goslings flapping about desperately only to fall back back to the lake.  The parents and the first gosling turned back and alighted on the water again. 

Then one of the three unsuccessful goslings did something I have never seen an Egyptian goose do before: it dived under the water and resurfaced  a few seconds later 5 to 10 metres away.  Then some of the other goslings made similar dives.  I cannot remember if either of the parents made one of these dives but at least three of the four goslings definitely did.  I was stunned.  As I said, in the 20 years since I have known the Egyptian geese on these lakes, I have never seen them (or any other geese) do anything like this.  I can only speculate that one of the goslings must have seen a coot or a great crested grebe dive and come up with food, and thought it would do the same, and it caught on.

Tooth Marks

Tooth marks in the bark on a fallen tree branch, probably made by a small mammal such as a squirrel.  The whitish marks down the left-hand side look like where the animal placed its lower teeth while it used its upper teeth to scrape the bark. Here and at other places on this log there were signs of small black bobbles near the tooth marks, as if the animal was actually scraping these off to eat them.

The black bobbles may be a Rosellinia sp fungus.  The bark, itself, also seem to be unusually dark and may have been covered in a black crust.

Photos taken in the Wilderness, Whiteknights Park, Reading University grounds, Reading, UK, on 2011-02-05.

Update on Sat 2011-02-19 by Tristram Brelstaff

The black bobbles look more like Eutypa spinosa than Rosellinia sp.

Update on Tue 2011-02-22 by Tristram Brelstaff

The whitish marks down the left-hand side could also be claw marks.

Magpies versus Red Kite

Yesterday morning I saw, high over Eastern Avenue, a red kite being mobbed by a magpie.  The kite was dangling something from its claws: the body of a squirrel, probably road-kill.  The magpie repeatedly approached the kite from behind, cawing loudly, but each time swerving off before making contact.  Eventually the kite let go of the squirrel which dropped down to the roof of the new Red Cross building.  The kite turned towards the north and slowly flew off.  The magpie followed the squirrel down and was joined on the roof ridge by three other magpies that appeared from over a neighbouring building (from where they must have been watching the mobbing from a safe distance).  They all stood there, a few metres from the squirrel, and looked around, as if checking the coast was clear, before, one by one, they hopped down the roof slope to where the squirrel's body lay.

Competition for Nest Sites between Sand Martins and Coots

Walking along Kennetside this morning, I saw a couple of sand martins (Riparia riparia) flying up and down the river.  This itself is unusual because I cannot remember having seen sand martins before, certainly not since I moved down south in 1988.  Hence I was quite surprised to see them in central Reading. 

On the north side of that part of the river there are several rainwater run-off pipes that stick out from the bank.  At one point, one of the martins swooped down to the mouth of a pipe, but a nearby coot (Fulica atra) raised it head as if surprised, and the martin flew up and away.  Then a few seconds later the sand martin came down again and, this time manage to perch at the entrance of the pipe.  However, when the coot saw this, it flew up, scaring the sand martin away, and  then stood itself in the entrance to the pipe, as if standing guard.  The martins then flew off up the river and, after a little while, the coot flew back down to the water and continued with what it had been doing before the interruption.

I have noticed coots trying to nest in those pipes before, but I don't think any can have succeeded because in heavy rain the flow of water from the pipes is so great that it would easily wash out any nest material.

Update on Fri 2009-06-12 by Tristram Brelstaff

The sand martins are more persistent than I thought.  On two occasions since then I have seen them going in and out of the same pipes, and the coot was nowhere to be seen.

The Grey Heron as a Predator of Mallard Chicks

This morning, Zoe and I saw this grey heron making several attempts to catch the mallard chick shown in this photograph.  The male mallard would chase the heron off whenever it came near, but the female and the chick seemed to have no sense of danger and repeatedly swam past the heron as if they didn't notice it.  I can now quite understand how initial broods of 11 or more chicks can be whittled down to one or two within just a few days.  The Egyptian geese are much better parents: they still have all 9 of their goslings.

Photo taken in by the large lake, Reading University grounds, Reading, UK, on 2009-04-19.