It's a Time to Build a Nest and Test It - I.

Yesterday I watched how a  new couple of Western Grebes was building a floating nest.  It's takes a time to build a secure floating nest and both Grebes worked little by little bringing different materials, mostly short and long sticks.

On the photo above the male Grebe brought a light short stick but the female was looking for a longer one and she went to search for it.

The female Grebe eventually found a very long stick and brought it to her nest.

Here she is arranging the stick and the male is watching her.

 

After working for a while on the nest the female decided to examine it.

She slowly mounted on the nest checking how strong it was and how secure.  It's a lot to check and test at the very beginning of nesting.

To be continued...