NESTING MOORHEN 2

A few weeks ago I posted some photos of nesting moorhens. This week, I revisited the same nest and was happy to see that fledglings have been leaving the nest and under the supervision of the moorhen nannies they can swim in the pond, and then make their own way back to the nest. I counted five moorhens sharing mothering duties in the same nest. As you can see, they must have all laid eggs in the same nest as some eggs are still unhatched and are being incubated, while there are also nestlings and fledglings.

As I said before, during breeding season, the Dusky Moorhen forms breeding groups of two to seven birds, with all members defending territory, building nests and looking after young. The shallow platform nests are made of reeds and other water plants over water, among reeds or on floating platforms in open water. Two or more females will lay their eggs in the same nest and all members of the group help to incubate the eggs and feed the young.

This post is part of the Weekend Reflections meme,
and also part of the Saturday Critters meme,
and also part of the I'd Rather Be Birdin' meme,
and also part of the Camera Critters meme.