Three spiky chicks have been found with the male at the ostrich nest.
Head Ranger James Souchon took his guests to visit the nest – which has been watched closely for exactly this event – on a cloudy morning, and to his absolute delight spotted the tiny shapes moving around as his Land Rover approached.
“Tiny” is probably the wrong word; the chicks are roughly the size of a chicken – and therefore way bigger than many bird species we find here – yet next to their father they were absolutely dwarfed.
Out of an initial 8 eggs counted, only three have hatched.
The chicks look very much like hedgehogs at this age, as their feathers have not yet formed and are more quill-like. One can see in this photo just how camouflaged they are in the area that the parents have chosen to nest.
Unusually, it was the male that was with the chicks this morning; usually the female broods in the day and the male at night. Maybe things change a bit when the eggs have actually hatched.
Out of an initial eight eggs, only three chicks have hatched.
Another egg lay a small distance from where the male was initially sitting brooding the chicks, so there is still hope that this one may hatch too, as there is sometimes a lag of a couple of days between the first and last eggs hatching.
Why the male wasn’t incubating that last egg and only the chicks is anyone’s guess, especially since it was a grey and cold morning when the chicks were discovered which probably made it even more important that the egg was kept warm. There may well be a very plausible explanation, but I don’t know enough about Ostrich reproduction to know exactly what it is.
Whatever the case, the fact that three chicks are alive and well is enough for us for now.
Fantastic news. I do hope all three chicks survive.
Three cuties. Very exciting. Parents have a big job keeping them safe. Keep us posted James
Oh this is good, proving that it isn’t only the Big Five that can garner interest
Exciting- more new life!
James, I loved the photo with 3 chicks and the dad
Were the other eggs taken by predators or did they just not hatch? Perhaps if the latter they were just infertile?
Hi Michael, hard to say. The fragments of the ones that hatched are still at the nest site, but I remember last time the ostriches nested some eggs were robbed by hyenas…
Hopefully they will grow into adulthood! How long will that take?
How wonderful! Certainly will be interesting watching them grow.
Great news! We were lucky enough to see the fabled “mating dance” on our last visit in July! What a show!
Good news – they look so vulnerable!