A week ago I watched, from the swan pen at SP, a mother common merg with 10 babies swim out from shore. 4 or 5 rode on her back, the rest in a line behind. Every few minutes the mother would maneuver with a dip sideways so that the most forward babies on her back would fall off and the rest would do moving up. The family was maybe 30 yds offshore when another female merg flew in and attacked the mother. Mother dumped babies and fought attacker off. Attacker moved abt 4 yds away, flattened her head, and repeated the attack. This sequence was repeated a dozen times after which the unsuccessful attacker finally flew off. After every attack the babies resumed their lineup on the mother's back. Does anyone have an explanation for the behavior of the attacker? Did she want some of the babies? Judy
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