Pairing up and mating is a pretty brutal affair for the females as the males chase them around and dunk them under the water, certainly not amorous in the slightest, I think the females just give up and go with the flow.
I am sure that we are all familiar with the long pattering runs made by the males across the surface of the water with flailing wings to '' see off '' competition, they are very territorial and aggressively defend their patch..
Having said that, when building their nests they tend to site them quite close to each other in the margins of the water body and it is not uncommon for a pair to have two or three clutches of 5-7 eggs.
Later in the year during moult they are a lot more sociable forming parties or '' rafts '', security in numbers when flightless.
They certainly do have '' attitude ''.
Quite dapper birds really
Noisy neighbours ....... Constant territorial fights and squabbles
The chicks are ... well .... not the prettiest of birds
But their mother loves them
As adolescents they are much more pleasing to the eye
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