Curating her Eggs

Basil and I returned to Nanpantan Reservoir today to inspect the grebes. It was extremely pleasant weather. Several fishermen were sitting out.

As we approached, I could see that it was the female on the nest with one 'grebette' on her back and she had got up to turn her eggs. There seem to be just two left. One of her clutch of five has evidently hatched, so what happened to the remaining two? I could only see one grebette on her back and none on her mate.

I was privileged to watch some feeding behaviour. The male, who had been out on the water, swam back to the nest. He added pieces of reed to it and also gave the grebette a white feather (see extra). Apparently grebes eat feathers to aid their digestion. They lessen the impact of sharp fish bones and slow down digestion. When you see a grebe swallow a fish whole, you can understand why this would be 'a good thing.'

I finally managed to attach Peak Design anchors and eyelets to my x-t3, so that I could use my 100-400mm lens today. The design of the eyelets has been changed so I feel much more confident that the camera and lens won't fall off the strap, which has happened frequently in the past. Luckily I've always been able to catch the camera before it fell to the ground.