The shots of the Grebe bring to mind an incident several years ago in Grand
Staircase-Escalante National Monumentin southeastern Utah, while on a
weeklong photo shoot.
We were on a two track, early one morning, miles from any paved road, or
body of water, heading across miles of scrub toward a little used horse
corral, when we came across a Western Grebe simply sitting on the ground.
The photo pro I was with is also an avid birder & he identified the bird as
a Western Grebe & knew that to become airborne the Grebe had to takeoff from
a body of water. The bird seemed ok & we assumed it had for some reason
landed in the desert on its own.
We captured the Grebe, put it in a duffel bag with its head sticking out &
since we were so far from water, we proceeded to spend the better part of
the day photographing, keeping an eye on the bird & offering it water from
time to time. Later that afternoon we got permission from the owners of the
Boulder Mountain Lodge to free the Grebe on their pond. We let the Grebe
free on the pond, apparently no worse for the captivity - it surely would
have died or been killed if it remained in the scrub.
Kenneth Waller
http://www.pentaxphotogallery.com/kennethwaller
----- Original Message -----
From: "Stan Halpin" <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: GESO - At Home with the Grebes - update
On Jul 8, 2011, at 7:32 AM, frank theriault wrote:
At Brian's suggestion I added a fourth photo, with one of the parents
sitting on the egg. Here's the new, updated set:
http://knarfdummyblog.blogspot.com/2011/07/at-home-with-grebes.html
Thanks, Brian!
cheers,
frank
Thank you Frank - a very nice series. I haven't seen this species in
person nor had I seen the floating nest before. So your pictures sent me
off into my reference books. A couple of interesting factoids: "Grebe
nests, composed of decaying vegetation, are usually anchored on aquatic
plants, quite unlike those of most loons, which are built on shorelines or
small islands." "Chicks are able to swim and dive from birth." "As in
loons, adults carry chicks on their backs to shelter, protect, and brood
them." Predators include large fishes - bass and pike - turtles, herons,
gulls, crows, coots, raccoons, minks . . .
[All from The Sibley Guide to Bird Life and Behavior, 2001.]
I also noted that the range maps for the Red-necked Grebe show that it is
very unusual for them to be that far south.
stan
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