This year we have been treated to some excellent views of a Common Potoo which has nested on a bamboo tree stake beside the wetlands. The first photo (left), taken on 9th November, shows the tiny chick being incubated by the adult soon after hatching. On 15th November the chick had already grown rapidly in size (middle photo) and by the 20th November it was too big to be sat on by the adult (right photo). This chick was particularly lucky as it faced at least two life-threatening events. Several days after first discovery, our guide Adilei was disappointed to find the egg on the ground beside the stake, but carefully replaced it and the bird fortunately returned to incubate and hatch the chick. The second near fatal event was on the 20th November, several hours after the last photo was taken, when a freak storm with winds of over 100 mph swept through the wetlands and Lodge garden blowing over trees and snapping branches. When the winds subsided we found the chick on the ground again, soaking wet and looking very miserable. Once again it was returned to the stake after a good drying, and seemed none the worse when checked the next day.
