{"id":22122,"date":"2015-04-18T05:24:18","date_gmt":"2015-04-18T11:24:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=22122"},"modified":"2025-02-07T03:18:22","modified_gmt":"2025-02-07T09:18:22","slug":"western-grebe-weed-ceremony-behavior","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/04\/18\/western-grebe-weed-ceremony-behavior\/","title":{"rendered":"Western Grebe Weed Ceremony Behavior"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"WesternWestern Grebe with water weeds – Nikon D810, f6.3, 1\/1600, ISO 400, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Western and Clark’s Grebes at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge<\/span><\/a> have returned and I have been hoping to photograph some of their mating behaviors again. Mating displays for both species are elaborate and fascinating and include the Rushing Ceremony and the Weed Ceremony.<\/p>\n

While I was at the refuge yesterday I had hoped to photograph the Rushing Ceremony<\/span><\/a> again but instead photographed what appeared to be a Western Grebe Weed Ceremony behavior that was incomplete or out of sequence.<\/p>\n

\"WesternWestern Grebe close up with weeds – Nikon D810, f6.3, 1\/1600, ISO 400, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

The mating display sequences in Western Grebes (Clark’s as well) are very predictable yet the behavior I saw yesterday didn’t fit the norm.<\/p>\n

Typically when the the Rushing Ceremony occurs between a male and a female it may be followed by the Weed Ceremony where both sexes dive, bring up some water weeds in their bills then face each other with crests raised, necks extended and their bodies high out of the water and dance close to each other.<\/p>\n

This Western Grebe and the grebe it was with didn’t rush but this one did have the weeds in its bill while it was close to the other grebe who did dive but came up without weeds. I did hear calls but couldn’t be sure which grebe was calling.<\/p>\n

This all happened very quickly and I didn’t have time to remove my teleconverter or switch to DX mode so I could only do close ups of the grebe.<\/p>\n

The behavior was very interesting to observe and photograph.<\/p>\n

\"HeadHead on Western Grebe with weeds – Nikon D810, f6.3, 1\/1600, ISO 400, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I don’t know why the Weed Ceremony behavior occurred out of sequence by not following a Rushing Ceremony. I had been photographing other grebes for several minutes that were east of this pair when I noticed this grebe with weeds in its bill.<\/p>\n

It might be that this particular grebe is going through its first breeding season and is inexperienced.<\/p>\n

I especially like this last Western Grebe image with the raised crest and head on view of the bright red eyes.<\/p>\n

Whatever the reason I was thrilled to see and photograph this behavior. I sure love what I do!<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/a><\/span> to see more of my Western Grebe photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Western and Clark’s Grebes at Bear River National Wildlife Refuge have returned and I have been hoping to photograph some of their mating behaviors again.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":34120,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[124,27,1148,26,161],"tags":[699,2498,3535,2158,877,707,4094,6078,165,3996,3533,3534,6081,4014,4095],"class_list":["post-22122","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge","category-avian","category-box-elder-county-utah","category-utah","category-western-grebes","tag-aechmophorus-occidentalis","tag-courting","tag-courtship-behavior","tag-courtship-display","tag-grebe","tag-grebes-2","tag-marsh","tag-rushing-ceremony","tag-spring","tag-water","tag-weed-ceremony","tag-weed-dancing","tag-weeds","tag-western-grebe","tag-wetlands"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/western-grebe-thumbnail-mia-mcpherson-7756.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-5KO","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":57269,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/04\/15\/spring-western-grebes-at-bear-river-mbr-time-for-their-courtship-displays\/","url_meta":{"origin":22122,"position":0},"title":"Spring Western Grebes At Bear River MBR – Time For Their Courtship Displays","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 15, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"These elegant black and white Western Grebes are beautiful while they feed, preen, rest and stretch but they are even more striking when they dance across the water while performing their courtship ceremony.","rel":"","context":"In "Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge"","block_context":{"text":"Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Spring Western Grebes at Bear River MBR, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/western-grebes-courting-mia-mcpherson-8019.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/western-grebes-courting-mia-mcpherson-8019.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/western-grebes-courting-mia-mcpherson-8019.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/western-grebes-courting-mia-mcpherson-8019.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6447,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/10\/27\/rushing-western-grebes-at-bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/","url_meta":{"origin":22122,"position":1},"title":"Rushing Western Grebes at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 27, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I photographed these rushing Western Grebes in early June of this year at Bear River National Wildlife Refuge in Box Elder County.","rel":"","context":"In "Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge"","block_context":{"text":"Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Rushing Western Grebes with a blackbird flying past them at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/western-grebes-rushing-mia-mcphreson-4718.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/western-grebes-rushing-mia-mcphreson-4718.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/western-grebes-rushing-mia-mcphreson-4718.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/western-grebes-rushing-mia-mcphreson-4718.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":51405,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/03\/27\/head-on-western-grebe-adult\/","url_meta":{"origin":22122,"position":2},"title":"Head On Western Grebe Adult","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 27, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"My friends Amy and Bruce Barker saw a Western Grebe at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge a few days ago and that has gotten me excited, I always miss the grebes during the winter.","rel":"","context":"In "Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge"","block_context":{"text":"Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Head on Western Grebe, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/western-grebe-close-up-mia-mcpherson-0427.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/western-grebe-close-up-mia-mcpherson-0427.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/western-grebe-close-up-mia-mcpherson-0427.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":37583,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/03\/30\/clarks-grebes-return-to-northern-utah\/","url_meta":{"origin":22122,"position":3},"title":"Clark’s Grebes Return to Northern Utah","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 30, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"I always enjoy when the Clark's Grebes return to northern Utah and hope that this year I will be able to photograph their weed ceremony or them rushing.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Clark's Grebe at a pond near home in Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/clarks-grebe-salt-lake-mia-mcpherson-6821.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/clarks-grebe-salt-lake-mia-mcpherson-6821.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/clarks-grebe-salt-lake-mia-mcpherson-6821.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/clarks-grebe-salt-lake-mia-mcpherson-6821.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":48381,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/09\/07\/clarks-grebes-rushing-in-september-at-bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/","url_meta":{"origin":22122,"position":4},"title":"Clark’s Grebes Rushing in September at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 7, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"I was positively amazed to see the Clark's Grebes rushing across the water this late in the year, personally I've never seen them rush past the end of July.","rel":"","context":"In "Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge"","block_context":{"text":"Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Clark's Grebes Rushing in September, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/clarks-grebes-rushing-mia-mcpherson-0679.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/clarks-grebes-rushing-mia-mcpherson-0679.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/clarks-grebes-rushing-mia-mcpherson-0679.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/clarks-grebes-rushing-mia-mcpherson-0679.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":101210,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/03\/29\/clarks-and-western-grebe-images\/","url_meta":{"origin":22122,"position":5},"title":"Clark’s And Western Grebe Images","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 29, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"On my trip up to Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge last week I was delighted to see and hear both Clark's and Western Grebe species from the auto tour loop.","rel":"","context":"In "Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge"","block_context":{"text":"Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Spring Clark's Grebe close up, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/clarks-grebe-spring-mia-mcpherson-5961.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/clarks-grebe-spring-mia-mcpherson-5961.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/clarks-grebe-spring-mia-mcpherson-5961.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/clarks-grebe-spring-mia-mcpherson-5961.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22122","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22122"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22122\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34120"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}