The Problems of Parenthood

S1, E9: Parents may have to keep their chicks warm or cool, fed and healthy for months before they fly the nest. The first meal a great-crested grebe chick gets isn't a fish but a feather. Storks give their young cooling showers in the midday heat by spitting water over them. On village ponds throughout Britain, child abuse and even infanticide is being committed as coots turn on their young. When food is short, parents may resort to pecking their chicks on the head to sort out the weak from the strong.