Freefall

A couple of days after her eggs have hatched, an adult female goldeneye makes an unusual grunting sound as she leaps from the nest box, high in a tree. This sound is to encourage the chicks to follow her out of the nest. At just two days old, these little chicks don't even have wings, but as they are so light, they fall from the nest box down to the ground, literally hurling themselves out of the hole. Highly vulnerable at this stage, they quickly regain composure and follow their mother to water.