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Story: Wetland birds

Dabchick adults with chick

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Dabchick adults with chick

One adult dabchick carries a stripy-headed chick on its back while the other feeds it. Dabchicks eat aquatic insects and larvae, freshwater molluscs, crayfish, or small fish. They are very capable divers.

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by Geoff Moon

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How to cite this page

Christina Troup, Wetland birds – Grebes and dabchicks, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/14616/dabchick-adults-with-chick (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Christina Troup, published 1 March 2009.