{"id":31502,"date":"2015-11-02T07:22:29","date_gmt":"2015-11-02T13:22:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=31502"},"modified":"2025-10-28T10:48:53","modified_gmt":"2025-10-28T15:48:53","slug":"wintertime-and-pied-billed-grebes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/11\/02\/wintertime-and-pied-billed-grebes\/","title":{"rendered":"Wintertime and Pied-billed Grebes"},"content":{"rendered":"

With the forecast of possible snow this week I’ve been thinking about how much fun it can be to photograph Pied-billed Grebes in the wintertime again.<\/p>\n

\"Pied-billedPied-billed Grebe in icy water – Nikon D200, tripod mounted, f7.1, 1\/640, ISO 250, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

There is a pond not far from where I live in Salt Lake County that I like to go to during the winter because it is close and I can photograph outside of the confines of a mobile blind.<\/p>\n

I love the reflections there and when I am totally frozen it is only a quick drive home to get warm and have a hot cup of coffee.<\/p>\n

The pond doesn’t completely freeze over usually until mid January in a typical year so there are times I can get the images of the grebes with snow being reflected on the pond and with ice near my subjects.<\/p>\n

The Pied-billed Grebes move on when the pond is almost completely frozen over.<\/p>\n

\"Pied-billedPied-billed Grebe and its wake – Nikon D300, f7.1, 1\/1000, ISO 500, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Farmington Bay WMA is also another place I like to photograph Pied-billed Grebes during the winter.<\/p>\n

There are a few locations that stay ice-free for the most part and the Pied-billed Grebes often congregate there.<\/p>\n

When the sky is clear the reflections on the water can be pleasing and when a bunch of these tiny grebes get together there can be a lot of chasing…<\/p>\n

\"Pied-billedPied-billed Grebe with prey being chased over a pond – Nikon D300, f6.3, 1\/1250, ISO 500, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

With or without prey.<\/p>\n

The Pied-billed Grebe in the image above was being chased by another grebe in an attempt to steal the fish (weather loach) from it.<\/p>\n

This happens quite frequently when the grebes are concentrated to one area and this type of action happens quickly so I always need to be on my toes to catch it.<\/p>\n

\"Pied-billedPied-billed Grebe flapping its wings on a cold January morning – Nikon D300, f7.1, 1\/1000, ISO 500, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

During the winter the Pied-billed Grebes spend a lot of time either looking for food or resting but there are times when they preen, paddle around, and on some days they spend quite a bit of time simply flapping their wings.<\/p>\n

I’ve seen times where one Pied-billed Grebes<\/span><\/a> starts flapping and before long they are all doing it. I’m not sure why they show that behavior but it may be due to them getting ready to migrate.<\/p>\n

I love it when it happens except then I have to pick just one grebe to photograph and I would like to photograph them all.<\/p>\n

The day I took the image above I must have taken 300 images of these small grebes flapping their wings.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

With the forecast of possible snow this week I’ve been thinking about how much fun it can be to photograph Pied-billed Grebes in the wintertime again.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":161997,"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":[27,1022,697,135,709,26],"tags":[4051,4226,4284,877,707,4064,6241,4094,4031,10698,4009,4166,1984,958,8018,4095,16369,373],"class_list":["post-31502","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-davis-county-utah","category-farmington-bay-wma","category-pied-billed-grebes","category-salt-lake-county-utah","category-utah","tag-adults","tag-behavior","tag-chase","tag-grebe","tag-grebes-2","tag-ice","tag-icy","tag-marsh","tag-nonbreeding","tag-park","tag-pied-billed-grebe","tag-podilymbus-podiceps","tag-pond","tag-reflections","tag-urban","tag-wetlands","tag-willow-pond-park","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/pied-billed-grebe-ice-mia-mcpherson-8258.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-8c6","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":118211,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/11\/13\/young-pied-billed-grebe-in-late-november\/","url_meta":{"origin":31502,"position":0},"title":"Young Pied-billed Grebe In Late November","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 13, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"I was going through photos that I took last year when I found this image of a young Pied-billed Grebe, taken at my local pond at the tail end of November.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Young Pied-billed Grebe at a local pond, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/pied-billed-grebe-immature-november-mia-mcpherson-4528.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/pied-billed-grebe-immature-november-mia-mcpherson-4528.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/pied-billed-grebe-immature-november-mia-mcpherson-4528.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/pied-billed-grebe-immature-november-mia-mcpherson-4528.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":119982,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/01\/21\/bathing-pied-billed-grebe-photo\/","url_meta":{"origin":31502,"position":1},"title":"Bathing Pied-billed Grebe Photo","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 21, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"This morning, I'm sharing a simple bathing Pied-billed Grebe photo that I took four years ago. I like this grebe image because of all the flying water droplets.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Pied-billed Grebe bathing vigorously, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/pied-billed-grebe-bathing-urban-mia-mcpherson-4993.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/pied-billed-grebe-bathing-urban-mia-mcpherson-4993.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/pied-billed-grebe-bathing-urban-mia-mcpherson-4993.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/pied-billed-grebe-bathing-urban-mia-mcpherson-4993.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":100364,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/03\/04\/adult-pied-billed-grebe-in-breeding-plumage\/","url_meta":{"origin":31502,"position":2},"title":"Adult Pied-billed Grebe In Breeding Plumage","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 4, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"While I was at my local pond three days ago this Pied-billed Grebe in breeding plumage caught my eyes because of its attitude.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult Pied-billed Grebe in breeding plumage, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/pied-billed-grebe-breeding-plumage-mia-mcpherson-8177.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/pied-billed-grebe-breeding-plumage-mia-mcpherson-8177.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/pied-billed-grebe-breeding-plumage-mia-mcpherson-8177.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/pied-billed-grebe-breeding-plumage-mia-mcpherson-8177.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":109913,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/01\/30\/fluffy-butt-pied-billed-grebe\/","url_meta":{"origin":31502,"position":3},"title":"Fluffy Butt Pied-billed Grebe","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 30, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"What bird is cuter than a fluffy butt Pied-billed Grebe? There are probably quite a few birds as cute but this one taken four years ago tickled my fancy today.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Fluffy butt Pied-billed Grebe, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/pied-billed-grebe-fluffy-butt-mia-mcpherson-0181.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/pied-billed-grebe-fluffy-butt-mia-mcpherson-0181.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/pied-billed-grebe-fluffy-butt-mia-mcpherson-0181.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/pied-billed-grebe-fluffy-butt-mia-mcpherson-0181.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":118683,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/12\/02\/immature-pied-billed-grebe-being-chased-and-other-grebe-behaviors\/","url_meta":{"origin":31502,"position":4},"title":"Immature Pied-billed Grebe Being Chased And Other Grebe Behaviors","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 2, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Last week, I photographed an immature Pied-billed Grebe being chased by an adult at my local pond. I observed some other interesting grebe behaviors as well.","rel":"","context":"In "Pied-billed Grebes"","block_context":{"text":"Pied-billed Grebes","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/grebes\/pied-billed-grebes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Immature Pied-billed Grebe being chased, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/pied-billed-grebe-immature-chased-mia-mcpherson-8805.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/pied-billed-grebe-immature-chased-mia-mcpherson-8805.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/pied-billed-grebe-immature-chased-mia-mcpherson-8805.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/pied-billed-grebe-immature-chased-mia-mcpherson-8805.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":120188,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/01\/28\/pied-billed-grebe-from-a-distance-and-up-close\/","url_meta":{"origin":31502,"position":5},"title":"Pied-billed Grebe – From A Distance And Up Close","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 28, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"While I was out enjoying some sunshine yesterday morning, I photographed an adult Pied-billed Grebe from a distance and up close at one of my local ponds.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Winter Pied-billed Grebe up close, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/pied-billed-grebe-winter-urban-mia-mcpherson-3394.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/pied-billed-grebe-winter-urban-mia-mcpherson-3394.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/pied-billed-grebe-winter-urban-mia-mcpherson-3394.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/pied-billed-grebe-winter-urban-mia-mcpherson-3394.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\/31502","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=31502"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31502\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/161997"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31502"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31502"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31502"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}