I just noticed the same thing this morning at Alum Creek Lake just off the dam except it was a horned grebe and a Bonaparte's gull.
---- Dan Best <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Doug:
>
> What you witnessed was an example of klepto-parasitism: one kind of
> bird or animal letting another do the work and they snatch the reward.
>
> I was introduced to this term early last spring by Roger Troutman.  He
> responded to my similar list serv inquiry but in this case it was
> gadwalls, as non-diving dabblers, helping themselves to the aquatic
> vegetation that the diving coots were bringing up at WC Best Wildlife
> Preserve here in Chardon.  Check out what Wikipedia has to say about
> it for further information and examples.
>
> Dan Best
>
> On Nov 6, 2011, at 7:00 PM, Doug Overacker wrote:
>
> > Julie Karlson and I stopped near the Corps of Engineers Visitor
> > Center at
> > Buck Creek State Park this morning to scan the lake for waterbirds. I
> > started scanning the lake and spotted some Horned Grebes. A
> > Bonaparte's Gull
> > was there with them. I scanned some more and found another Horned
> > Grebe also
> > accompanied by a Bonaparte's Gull. Then I found a Pied-billed Grebe
> > and it
> > was also accompanied by a Bonaparte's Gull. I watched the grebe dive
> > and the
> > gull flew. Soon the grebe came up and the gull landed right next to
> > it.
> > Again the grebe dove and the gull flew only to land next to the
> > grebe when
> > it came up. It repeated this one more time while I watched. My guess
> > is that
> > if any of the grebes came up with a small fish the gull would try to
> > claim
> > it. Are there any other explanations?
> >
> > Doug Overacker
> > Springfield, Ohio
> >
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