Nesting Eared Grebes

by Judi Dressler

Title

Nesting Eared Grebes

Artist

Judi Dressler

Medium

Photograph - Photography

Description

Two eggs are visible on this floating grebe nest. The female Eared Grebe is about to dive off the nest, and the male who is behind her will immediately climb onto the nest and will take over sitting on the eggs to keep them warm. Many birds follow this method of taking turns sitting on eggs. The one who is not on the nest brings food to the other, and also adds material to the nest when necessary.

Since the nest was floating a ways from shore, I had waded out a little bit (with a new pair of waders) to get the photo, a first for me! It was a bit tricky to hold my equipment still while in the water, but I managed to get a few shots. I did feel lucky, since there were very few nests around; it turned out that coots (much larger) had been destroying many of the nests.

In the summer months, golden wisps fan out from the cheeks of Eared Grebes as they dance and run across the water courting. They breed in colonies in shallow wetlands in western North America and head by the hundreds and thousands to salty inland waters to feast on brine shrimp before heading farther south. In winter, they lose the golden wisps, turning gray and white.

Photo taken in Arapaho National Wildlife Refuge, Colorado

----------------------------------------------

Descriptive keywords and tags for this image include eared grebes, grebes, nesting, nest, floating nest, eggs, couple, male, female, water, pond, lake, podiceps nigricollis, podicipedidae, ducks, waterfowl, fowl, birds, wild, wildlife, colorado, dressler, and judi dressler.

Uploaded

October 5th, 2020

Statistics

Viewed 820 Times  -  Last Visitor from New York, NY on 04/26/2024 at 7:50 AM

Colors

Embed

Share

Sales Sheet

Tags