it tried to get off its parent's back and swim on its own, and even dove a little, but it would quickly climb back onto its parent's back and burrow under its wings again (4 photos) #littlegrebe #bird #nature

and today... I was worried because the nest was empty, but I found them swimming away from the edge of the pond! however, there was only one chick left...🥺 (4 photos) #littlegrebe #bird #nature

a little grebe's nest, taken a week ago. Four or perhaps five chicks hatched a little while before this (for which I posted some photos of four chicks last week), and there were three left at this moment as you can see in the 4th photo. the parent birds often brought in fish and shrimp, so I think there was plenty of food, but that also means there were probably many natural predators... (4 photos) #littlegrebe #bird #nature

and it seems to be begging for food (4 photos) #littlegrebe #bird #nature

the little grebe chicks at an early nest in another park's pond have grown quite large, but one of the four is still clinging to its parent (4 photos) #littlegrebe #bird #nature

after finishing their meal, they climbed back onto the parent bird's back, burrowed under its wings, and dozed off (2 photos) #littlegrebe #bird #nature

the other parent bird brought food, but it seemed the food (looks like a small shrimp) was too big for the chicks to eat easily (4 photos) #littlegrebe #bird #nature

in another park, chicks were hatching in a grebe's nest in a pond! it's behind some bushes, but still close enough to a path where people pass, although snakes or larger birds might stray away from the nest🤔 when I found it, the chicks were hiding under the parent bird's wings, so I thought they were incubating (third photo), but soon one or two poked their heads out, and when the other parent brought food, a total of four chicks emerged (the maximum number that can be seen in these 4 photos is three) #littlegrebe #bird #nature

they were quite far away, so I couldn't get a very clear shot, but you can see somehow the chicks riding on their parent's back! at this point, I could see a total of four chicks (3 photos) #nature #bird #littlegrebe