Moorhens building a brooding nest

Yesterday I popped in my local park and I watched three just hatched moorhen chicks with an adult. This pair of moorhens usually nests high in a willow tree, in the main fork of the trunk. I have seen one of the adults several times up the tree in the last few months, but I failed to find the nest. Today I went to the park again to check on the moorhens. I was surprised to find the female brooding the chicks on a new nest by the island (top shot), which wasn't there yesterday. The male was busy bringing her sticks and leaves. He would find a stick or leaf on the ground, run to the shore and swim as fast as he could to the nest and pass the material to her partner. The female was fluffed up and looked double the size of her partner. She was sheltering the young under her wings.
 If I hadn't seen the chicks yesterday I would have assumed the moorhens were nesting anew. Once the chicks leave the nest in the tree for the first time, presumably jumping to the ground or the water, they can't climb up the tree again. These adults are being very resourceful by building a second brooding nest for the chicks to shelter when they are still small and cannot thermoregulate properly.

One of the moorhens with chick yesterday.

The moorhen sits and the chicks get in to be brooded one after another. She pulled a few small twigs towards her as she was brooding them (photo from yesterday).

Male coming in with a stick.

A rotten leaf will do as nest material too.

Allopreening moorhens

I have only once before seen Moorhens allopreening, and I could not photograph the behaviour. This morning I was luckier. I saw the pair of Moorhens on the other side of the lake in my local park next to each other. One of them adopted the a posture reminiscent to the 'invitation to mate posture', although standing, with head tucked under the chest. The other moorhen then started preening its head and neck, while the first moorhen relaxed the posture. The preening moorhen then adopted the invitation position and the second one briefly preened it. The bouts of preening were not very intense, but directly followed the specific head under chest posture.

This clip shows how the moorhens take quick turns soliciting the preening, and how the preening itself appears rushed and rough at times one pulls the other's feathers.
 

Moorhens mating

This week the local pair of Moorhens have been mating. Females in Moorhens and Coots, and presumably other rails, have a curious way of inviting their partners to mate: They bury their heads down into their chests.

Pair of Moorhens

There are now two Moorhen pairs in the park. They own each one end of the pond, a pair owns the island and the other the 'rock' with a couple of clumps of marginal plants. Today the island pair was very cosy, both individuals together, the one on the left preening around the neck of its partner. Moorhen males are slightly larger and heavier than females, so the larger individual on the left is likely to be the male. The Coot pair abandoned the park after their two failed breeding attempts on the stolen Moorhen nest.

The moorhen family

Since I first saw the moorhen chicks for the first time, I have only seen one adult with them. The adult apparently decided to build another nest by the island, as the chicks couldn't return to the tree nest. It left the chicks on their own for periods of frantic nest building. The nest is now pretty much done and attracting much attention from the new pair of coots in the park (previous post). I've never seen the chicks on the nest. The number of chicks went from three to two on the 1st of May, but the two left are growing.

One of the chicks had a good look at me.

The young rush to meet their parent for some food.

New moorhen chicks

This morning, a moorhen was on the island with three very young chicks. They were tiny and a bit clumsy, and had some trouble following the adult about. There was only one adult with them, so I wonder if its partner is still incubating, or brooding other chicks on their tree nest. These tiny chicks either jumped from their nest, or climbed down the tree unharmed. They peeped and flapped their tiny wings comically, stretching out to their parent, who will occasionally give them tiny morsels of food, one at a time.
 After a while the parent brooded them on the ground, a bit restless trying to get itself comfortable. The following time I saw them, the adult was trying to arrange some nesting material on a branch by the water, maybe not happy with brooding the chicks on the ground? There were a number of large gulls about, and with just one parent around, I wonder what the future of these chicks holds.

Parent finding food.

Chick begging

Brooding time

The very angry Moorhen

The lake in my local park is now divided up in two Moorhen territories. One pair has the island - now with a nest high in a willow well under construction, possibly already with eggs, the other has the opposite end of the pond, a more disturbed area which only has two patches of marginal vegetation near a path as potential nesting site. One of the island Moorhens climbed the willow tree with some nest material and passed it delicately to its partner sitting on the nest. Both males and females carry out nest building and are virtually indistinguishable by plumage, although males are a bit larger. After a while I saw the moorhen approaching some vegetable refuse that some passer by had dumped on the grass. The moorhen then spied either the other territory owner which was about 5 m away, or the coot that was standing nearby, and carried out the most wonderful display. With the bill quite low and the tail as high as she could keep it, it erected its white tail feathers, and half opened its wings, strutting while showing its bottom to the rival moorhen (which appeared quite indifferent). The view of the rival moorhen approaches the photo at the top. And the front and side views of the displaying moorhen are below.

 You can watch a clip of the behaviour here.



You can also watch the moorhen strutting to a potential predator, a stoat, which I filmed recently here.

The moorhen nest up the tree

This afternoon I tried and photograph the moorhen's tree nest from a better angle. The nest is located about 4 m high, on a broken branch that is resting on the main fork of the willow. A moorhen was sitting tight on the nest, but only the top of the head and bill was visible (above).

 Its partner kept busy chasing away the visiting coot.

Why did the Moorhen and the Mallards go up a tree?

I occasionally see moorhens on trees. Today one climbed up a weeping willow, then fumbled in a fork that seemed to have a lot of branches in it, before almost right away climbing away on to a clear view of the water and gliding down. A nest? I didn't have a clear view of the moorhen climbing up, it's possible she was carrying nesting material and passing it to its partner? Tonight, I looked at the photos and, yes! you can just see a dark bird sitting on the tree fork. In other photos a bit of bill is visible. A tree nest!
 Then I thought, that's where they have been nesting these past years. The park's lake has little marginal vegetation and the island, which used to have bushes, is now bare as the goose use it for roosting. That explains why moorhen chicks appeared out of nowhere at some point in the year, even when, as last year, they appear to abandon their nest on the island's shore.

This photo shows the location of the nest, on the left hand side.

Preparation to jump onto the water.

I have never before seen a mallard up a tree. This morning, on the grey light of the solar eclipse, a pair of mallard were quite high on a tree. The duck was inspecting the trees, while the drake looked on, appearing quite unsure. They went to two different trees. Apparently, Mallards occasionally nest in hollow trees, their duckling jumping from the height after hatching just like other tree nesting ducks do.

The female is a meter over the drake.

The drake looks on.

So during this day of solar eclipse, I happened upon two birds I don't usually see on trees, doing just that. Not so much the eclipse than spring is in the air and the park doesn't offer the best ground nesting conditions for these birds.

Moorhen nest building

The Moorhens seem to have settled in the park, with a pair having secured the island as a territory. Next to the island there is a large fallen branch that has been used to nest before. One of the moorhens was tidying the nest, trying to bring branches sticking up into the nest structure.
 You can watch a short clip of her activities here:

Moorhen fight

As I arrived by the pond this morning, two moorhens seemed to be having a dispute, squeaking and chasing. Then, another two individuals took it more seriously and fought in the water, feet to each others chest, trying to push each other underwater, and pecking each others bills furiously, while flapping their wings for balance. It was uncomfortable viewing and I filmed half a minute. I wish I had carried on, as the fight ended shortly after, both moorhens exhausted but unharmed, and, after a quick chase, the resident moorhen came back to its territory by the lake island. Coots get the press for their aggressiveness, but Moorhens are not much behind.

Three black birds turning leaves

The layer of fallen leaves under trees hides treasure for many birds this time of year: earthworms, woodlice, springtails, sprouting seedlings and more. I have filmed three bird species turning leaves in the park, each showing a different style: the Carrion Crow, slowly turning and tasting tidbits; the Blackbird energetically using its whole body, almost jumping, relying on an element of surprise, the moorhens looking like they are removing a nuisance from their way. Here you can watch the three clips.

Blackbird leaf turning




Moorhens leaf turning



Carrion Crow leaf turning

Tail flicking Moorhens

The contrasting white feathers at the sides of Moorhen tails are very obvious, especially when they flick their tails up and down, often fanned. As this one run away from me this morning I wondered what is this flicking for? An aggressive signal to other moorhens had been proposed as a hypothesis. However, observations carried out by Fernando Alvarez suggested a more intriguing reason. When a patrolling Marsh Harrier - a common predator - approached a moorhen, the rate of tail flicking increased as the moorhen dashed towards cover. In addition, the more vigilant the bird, or the further away from cover, the higher the tail-flicking rate was. These and other results suggested that tail flicking is not a signal to other moorhens, but a signal of alertness to the potential predator: 'I can see you!' This might deter the predator from chasing that alert individual and try catch a less vigilant one unawares.
 More experiments by Alvarez and colleagues suggested that moorhens in better physical condition showed higher flicking rates when foraging: healthier individuals flick their tails faster, which indicates that the signal is actually telling the predator: 'I can see you and I am fast so you can't catch me!
So both prey and predator would benefit from this honest signal of body conditions and alertness, as a chase, which would be wasteful in energy for the prey and likely to be unsuccessful for the predator, is avoided.

flicking away from me

she is definitely seen me!

she looks quite alert, but maybe then realised I pose no danger

UPDATE 3/10/2013

I took this video today of the tail flicking behaviour in the park moorhens

More information

Fernando Alvarez (1993). Alertness signalling in two rail species Animal Behaviour, 46, 1229-1231 DOI: 10.1006/anbe.1993.1315

Fernando Alvarez, Cristina Sánchez, & Santiago Angulo (2006). Relationships between tail-flicking,morphology, and body condition in Moorhens Journal of Field Ornithology, 77, 1-6 DOI: 10.1111/j.1557-9263.2006.00001.x

Cooperative breeding moorhens

I dealt with the topic of cooperative breeding in Moorhens in a post before, but I hadn't got photos illustrating the behaviour. In Moorhens, young from the first brood of the year will often stay around and help rear the second - or third - batch, and this is more likely to happen in good quality territories. Moorhen chicks are very mobile, but they still rely on their parents, and helpers, for food. Yesterday, in a visit to a local farm, we had the chance to observe the behaviour up close. There were three moorhen chicks, two adults and a subadult individual in the carp pond. We noticed that the moorhens were very interested in fish food, so we ended up feeding the moorhens. One of the adults picked up pellets in its beak, up to three at a time and passed them to the immature, the immature fed on them, but it would also carry the food to the chicks. Instead of the adult feeding the chicks directly, the subadult was an intermediary, ferrying the food from parent to chicks.

 Given their liking for fish food and the presence of visitors feeding the fish during the breeding season in the farm, this appears to be a prime moorhen territory. The Moorhens are also very used to people and are very confiding.

The carp at the pond

Little chicks on the shore

Adult - right - with following chicks and subadult, left

The adult with food pellets

The adult passes the food to the subadult

The subadult feeds the chicks

Some chicks beg the adult for food

The surprising moorhen

Moorhens breed every year in my local park and, for moorhens, they are quite tame and allow close approximation. In the countryside moorhens are more difficult to see, their loud "kirr-up!" call, often giving away their presence while they feed in marginal vegetation of canals and rivers. Moorhens are unusual in several ways. First, contrary to most birds, females compete for males, engage in female-female fighting and initiate courtship. In most bird species, females carry most if not all of the burden of parental care, they make energy-rich eggs, do most or all of the incubation and in several groups they protect and or feed the chicks for some time after hatching. No surprise then that males compete for such good assets and female are quite choosy as to which males should father their offspring!

Incubating moorhen

In contrast, Moorhen males are devoted dads and carry out most of the incubation and tending of the chicks. Some males, those with good fat reserves are better at incubating than others. Small males then to accumulate more fat reserves, and females fight to pair with those small fat males. There are also male fights but they are for territorial defence, instead of fighting for access to females.

An adult searches for food while a young chick begs on the water edge

Both males and females tend the chicks, which are quite mobile from birth, but need feeding and are shown what to eat by their parents. The other unusual habit of Moorhens is that chicks from the first brood often stay around in their natal territory and help feed their siblings from the second (or third) brood. This cooperative breeding is also found in Swallows and Long-tailed tits in the UK. As territory availability is very constrained due to aggressive territory defence during the summer, young first-brood moorhens are forced to stay in the parental territory and cannot easily disperse. The more food resources are available in their natal territory, the more likely is that first brood chicks will help raise their siblings and the more effort they put into it. Helpers can make a difference in the number of surviving chicks for the second brood and also reduce the parent burden when feeding the second brood.

Courting pair just before mating. A young chick was in their nest nearby.

A tiny chick still in the nest with its parents

More mobile chicks follow one of their parents

These fledglings were chased up the tree by an adult

Pair of moorhens foraging on frozen pond

References
Eden, S.F. (1987) When do helpers help? Food availability and helping in the moorhen, Gallinula chloropus Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 21: 191-195. Here.

Petrie M (1983) Female moorhens compete for small fat males. Science 220: 413-415.