Feeding our Hitchhiker

I have been keeping an eye on this Red-necked Grebe (Podiceps grisegena) nest on a local pond for about 10 days. When I returned yesterday after having been away for a couple of days, one of the chicks had hatched. While I has there, I could watch another chick hatch in what seemed to be a somewhat laborious exercise. As soon as it was out out the egg and had recovered (or gained) its breath, it instinctively dragged itself to the tail end of the nesting parent and then it climbed slowly under the lifted wings.

This photo was taken after the chick hatching, but I believe it is the older of the two chicks. The parents briefly ferried both around the water, but never far away from the nest (still 2 eggs left) because of the magpies.

Here, the feeding parent presented the food to the chick, but then moved the bill away, like a tease. He/she did this again and then deposited the food in the water. This prompted the chick to slide off the other parent's back and grab the food out of the water. Other times, the parents would feed the chicks directly.

All food items were small, with the largest one being a dragonfly. In fact, one parent managed to catch a small fish close to the surface of water while the chicks were on the back. That parent swallowed the fish - even though small, it would have been too big for the little ones.

This is as low as I could get (hidden in a bush) without risking to stress the birds.

I chose a small aperture in the hopes of having enough DOF for both parents and the chick. I selected a tight, pano-style crop to focus on the intimacy of the scene. Cropped to about 55 %, which is more than I would like, but I'm very happy to have captured this image.

Canon 7D, Sigma 150-500 at 500 mm, f/11, ISO 640, 1/320 sec, monopod, natural light, LR5, CS6 and NIK suite.

Large version is provided.

All comments are much appreciated. Thanks for looking and thanks for all your comments on my other photos.