Moorhen Chick

We arrived in Lyon, France, by train today from Modane where we spent last night (just over the border from Italy). By mid-afternoon we reached our hotel on the northern outskirts of the city by an "electronic bus" (a bus operating by electricity from overhead wires).  The hotel is  ultra-modern, part of the Cité Internationale--an enormous complex  designed by Renzo Piano and completed in 1999.  Before dinner we took a lengthy walk in the adjoining Parc de la Tête d'Or, a lovely 290 acre area of green space and water.


There we found a family of Common Moorhens--a parent and two chicks wandering on the grass (not far from the river where they spend most of their time). This chick clearly had no fear, coming close to me to be well captured at 105 mm.  It's already adult-sized, with the large feet that enable it to negotiate marshy vegetation.