{"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_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"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":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t