This week at the pond we whiled away a happy hour or so watching our newly hatched Moorhen chicks.
The last few times we had visited the pond the nest had been empty and the Moor hens seemed to be going about their business, sans chicks. We assumed they either hadn’t hatched or they had been killed. Imagine our surprise when we arrived and saw this:
The chicks were on land the whole time we were there which meant we got some lovely photos of their parents who were nearby at all times. It was a great opportunity to study them at close range:
I had planned on doing our summer tree study, but nature, as I am finding, has her own timetable! We did a small bit with our tree and hopefully will finish that off within the next couple of weeks.
We don’t have those birds here, so it is fascinating to me to learn about them. You do such a nice job teaching us about them. I don’t think I have ever seen a water bird without webbed feet.
You know, I hadn’t noticed the lack of webbed feet!
Great photographs of the moor hens, and their sweet fluffy chicks!
They are so, so cute.
Fantastic pictures as usual! What a fun way to learn about pond life and it’s inhabitants. I’m looking forward to the next installment, thanks for sharing with Country Kids.
Thank you! We are really enjoying our times at the pond!
What a nice surprise to find the baby chicks. Looks like your kiddos are really enjoying the pond.
They really are. This has been a surprise success this year!!
Nature really does have other plans, doesn’t it?
I hadn’t realized, until Phyllis pointed it out about the webbed feet. Who knew?
I’m obviously not very observant! Maybe I’ll become more so as the weeks pass!
I obviously am not either 🙂
Oh – tooo cute! You got some amazing photos. I’ve always been drawn to their feet too, but I’d never figured out why – thanks, Phyllis! We really must get back to our pond!
They were literally less than ammeter away and not nearly as skittish as they usually are. Funny, because I would have thought they would have been more so given their heightened protection of their babies.
Those are great shots. I remember reading about Moorhens when I was a kid and wondering what they looked like.
Traditionally they are really shy, but bizarrely, when they were with their babies they weren’t in the least bit shy!