Nothing major, just some kinda fun stuff from the youngsters (and yes, I usually try to avoid using the word ‘cute’ but sometimes no other word gets the job done as well).
1/2500, f/8, ISO 800, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in
Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge has always been my go-to place for Western and Clark’s Grebe chicks, at least it was until the last two years when construction activities at the refuge resulted in draining major ponds and canals which has prevented birds from nesting and foraging in large areas of the refuge (a slightly sore point with me and others because of its timing and how it was done but that’s another story…). So for two seasons now visitors have had little access to nesting grebes and other birds but 3 summers ago grebes were having a nesting heyday and I was able to get many photos I like very much.
The trailing chick in this shot had been trying desperately to climb onto its parent’s back without any luck. When they’re this size there isn’t quite enough room up there for 3 of them comfortably and there’s already two chicks on board (one of them is hard to make out because its head is hidden behind the lower neck of the adult).
I’ve posted other photos of this chick where its efforts to climb aboard were a little more aggressive but with the chick’s bill buried in the feathers of the adult I thought this one was kind of interesting too, partly because I have to wonder if the chick was grasping some of those feathers in its bill and being pulled through the water. Maybe, maybe not but that’s what I’d have done.
1/2500, f/8, ISO 800, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in
Eleven minutes later the dynamics had changed. The parent and the chicks were apparently hungry so when the other adult swam by they tried to keep up with it (the adult not back brooding chicks is always the source of their fish meals). Here one of the youngsters had apparently jumped overboard and at first it was swimming right next to the parent. But it was so anxious for food it swam in front of him/her and was almost pushed beneath the surface when the faster adult began to run over it. Its face was pushed even further down into the water than this before it could move off to the other side.
I’ve deliberately cropped this image to show the tail of the adult they were chasing after.
I miss having access to the nesting grebes. I’ll get over it but I haven’t yet…
Ron
A big awwww from me.
I think of cute as a survival technique. Without a generous helping the young uns may not survive. I don’t remember using it for an adult though. Of any species.
Good point, EC.
“Cute” definitely works for me. Wonder when the Mother kicks the chicks off their back because they are too big.
I empathize with you and your back. It is not a fun way to live.
Thank you, Ron
Alice, the parents don’t have to “kick them off”. Eventually there’s room up there for fewer and fewer chicks as they grow. And as they get older they prefer to be out swimming around anyway, at least that’s the way it seems to me.
That said, even when they’re younger an adult can temporarily get rid of the chicks by raising up in the water vertically and flapping its wings. That dumps the chicks into the water and usually they just then climb up on the other parent.
Ron, I love your answer…thanks!
First, as others have said, sure hope your back feels better soon. Pain is no fun.
My wife immediately offered a new word for your grebe chicks as she walked by the desk and gushed: “Awwww, that is SO ADORABLE!”
It’s much easier to type “cute”, though.
Thanks, Wally. I’ll use ‘cute’ occasionally, I just try not to overdo it. A little quirk of mine – one of many…
No other word for it….
🙂
Ron, I’m so sorry your back continues to plague you. I keep hoping to see a post that begins with, “I took these images yesterday…” I hope the cabin fever isn’t too horrible and that you’ll soon be out and about capturing the beauty, the magnificence, and the cute. (I really want the chick in the first shot to be getting a free ride — albeit a damp one — like its siblings!)
Maybe it is, Marty. Thanks for your concern.
Love ’em!
Charlotte
Thanks, Charlotte.
Why should you get over not being able to see nesting Grebes? Based on the photos of them you’ve posted over the time I’ve been reading your blog, they have to be one of the most rewarding to watch. And fun. I really like the reflections in the second shot.
Susan, I agree about the reflections. I have lots of shots of these birds where I clipped the head of the adult’s reflection and because of that those images just don’t quite cut it for me. Thank you.
Your Western Grebe photos are always among my favorites! I can almost hear the begging! Thanks, once again, for brightening my day.
I’m glad you enjoy them so much, Diane. Thanks.
Thanks for the recap, I have missed the grebe babies, even their continuous calls.
You’re welcome, April. Another year without them…
Hope you had (or are still having) a good trip to Oz.
I agree “cute” is the only word that fits this image!
Great shots as usual. Thanks for sharing.
How are you doing with your back?
Thanks, Dick. Sometimes there’s just no other choice.
I’m afraid the back isn’t doing well…
Isn’t that just like a child…food takes precedence! Does the ‘free’ adult also offer food to the other or do they, once without riders, begin to feed the young? This is not a bird we get here…I must say though I find the red eyes a bit disconcerting. I like the Loons but the red eyes…I just don’t know. 🙂
Kathy, yes the ‘free’ adult feeds both the chicks and the back brooding adult, although the youngsters get most of the fish, by far. Sometimes the fish is given to the adult with chicks on its back and then that adult decides whether to give it to one of the youngsters or eat it. It can go either way.
Outa the way kid! 😉 The trials of raising children and being a kid trying to get all it can from the parent! 😉 They are beautiful birds and, from your photos and commentary a hoot to watch! 🙂 I’m watching a Western Pee Wee nest that I’m concerned may have a cowbird chick in it…… 🙁 Interesting to watch an adult “shade” the nest/chicks as it is in dead tree branches with little shade much of the day. Fun little birds. 🙂
Judy, they’re fascinating to watch and often amusing too. But when they’re a little older than this their constant loud begging calls can get a little annoying. I can only imagine how listening to it is for the parents all day every day for many weeks.