Humbug

Early start to see whether the early morning light added quality to Mr & Mrs G and Baby Humbug.  Kind of....but not really.  Still, it was nice being up and out early, though it was very cold!
The rest of the day involved more Mr & Mrs G and Baby Humbug stalking.  Humbug is clearly stronger and more confident but is still a gangly lump of fluff and beak.  He can swim too.  When I first saw him he was just about to receive a tiny fish from dad who'd been fishing.  He reached towards dad's beak but was short, reached some more and toppled off the platform into the water, landing with a small ripple rather than a splash.  The parents didn't seem too concerned and dad, who was in the water, simply maneuvered around the platform leaving Humbug to figure out how to reach the safety of his back, which Humbug did.  I saw him tumble off another time later in the afternoon in a similar manner and I began to think it almost looked like the parent was purposefully offering food just out of reach to make him fall in - a bit of a sink-or-swim learning opportunity.

And yes - grebe's do apparently eat their feathers hence Humbug was offered a few feathers for lunch.  It's thought that the feathers help protect the digestive tract and enable pellet formation and also that it guards against or reduces parasites.  Humbug's daily dose of fibre!

I'm staying again tonight in the hope of seeing the arrival of Humbug's baby bro.......or sis.  We'll see.