At the Van Dyne Spoor wetlands yesterday we observed what seemed vey unusual gallinule behavior. An adult was swimming along up a small channel in the surface weeds while three young were sort of lazing around nearby. A second gallinule was a distance off.
Suddenly, the adult accelerated and altered course toward one of the youngsters. When they were close, the adult came up out of the water and crash dived on top of the kid! The adult quickly surfaced and, despite watching for some time, we never saw the young reappear. The other two kids and the other adult ignored the whole affair. I hope the youngster just retreated underwater to heavy cover. John -- John and Sue Gregoire Field Ornithologists Kestrel Haven Migration Observatory 5373 Fitzgerald Rd Burdett, NY 14818 42.443508000, -76.758202000 -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --