Yesterday’s lapwing nest monitoring showed that most nests inside the anti-predator fence have now hatched. We now just have to hope that the small balls of fluff can make it through the next few weeks until they fledge and are able to fly.
Lapwing chicks are well camouflaged and their defence strategy is to sit perfectly still (hopefully underneath some dense vegetation), whilst the adult birds try and distract/mob any potential predators, swooping and calling loudly until the threat goes. These calls act both to deter the predator but also to tell the chicks to stay where they are. Once the threat has passed the adults will round up any chicks that haven’t been eaten.
Lapwing chicks don’t stay in the nest for very long and soon after hatching are off wandering around looking for food, they might keep returning to the nest for a couple of days but pretty soon they are roaming around, with the parents in close attendance trying to guide them to suitable feeding areas.
Last year it was possible to get good views of chicks feeding on the muddy edges around the large scrapes on Big Otmoor, so hopefully it will be the same this year.
The photos below were taken yesterday and show...
1.) A recently hatched nest with the small shell fragments that I was rambling on about in the last blog post
2.) A recently hatched chick doing a good job at hiding, its egg tooth is still present
3.) An older chick, with no egg tooth, doing a very poor job at hiding