{"id":45002,"date":"2017-02-16T06:09:40","date_gmt":"2017-02-16T13:09:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=45002"},"modified":"2025-10-28T13:36:41","modified_gmt":"2025-10-28T18:36:41","slug":"pied-billed-grebes-in-flight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/02\/16\/pied-billed-grebes-in-flight\/","title":{"rendered":"Pied-billed Grebes in Flight – Rare Sight to See & Photograph"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pied-billed Grebes only migrate during the night which is why until yesterday I have never photographed them in flight.<\/p>\n

I’ve even written a post here on On The Wing Photography bemoaning the fact that I would never photograph them in flight<\/span><\/a>. I was wrong, delightfully wrong.<\/p>\n

\"Pied-billedPied-billed Grebe in flight – Nikon D500, f8, 1\/800, ISO 250, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Yesterday afternoon I was at my local pond where I photographed not one but two Pied-billed Grebes in flight. This is rarely seen and rarely photographed. I might never get the chance again.<\/p>\n

\"FlyingFlying Pied-billed Grebe – Nikon D500, f8, 1\/2000, ISO 250, -0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Or maybe I will.<\/p>\n

The weather is warming up, the days are getting longer and it won’t be long before these grebes will want to breed, nest, and raise their young.<\/p>\n

My local pond isn’t the best habitat for these grebes to nest because there is very little vegetation that they require to build their floating nests and very little cover for them needed to raise their young so these Pied-billed Grebes nest in other locations.<\/p>\n

To get there these grebes need to fly.<\/p>\n

\"Pied-billedPied-billed Grebe in flight over a pond – Nikon D500, f8, 1\/1250, ISO 250, -0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I’ve observed Pied-billed, Western, and Clark’s Grebes flapping their wings while remaining stationary on the water over the years and the frequency of those wing flapping sessions increases near the time that these grebes migrate in the fall and with the Pied-billed Grebes, who are year round residents, in the spring.<\/p>\n

When there is danger grebes dive to escape predators, they don’t take flight like many other birds species. They spend a lot of time not flying any where at all.<\/p>\n

This wing flapping behavior could be the conditioning they need to strengthen their wings and the muscles they use for flight.<\/p>\n

I noticed this wing flapping behavior right before I photographed a Clark’s Grebe in flight<\/span><\/a> and I noticed the wing flapping behavior in the Pied-billed Grebes on the pond yesterday too before I took these flight photos.<\/p>\n

These images were taken from quite a distance and are large crops but I was still super excited to see them in flight and take these documentary photos.<\/p>\n

The short flights I photographed yesterday from one side of the pond to the other may also be their way of getting ready for longer flights to their nesting locations.<\/p>\n

I can’t be certain of that, these are just my observations as a naturalist and photographer, but I can tell you I was more than thrilled to photograph these grebes flying over my local pond.<\/p>\n

\"Pied-billedPied-billed Grebe floating by – Nikon D500, f6.3, 1\/1000, ISO 250, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

So maybe I will hang around my local pond more often as spring weather increases the need of these Pied-billed Grebes<\/span><\/a> to move to other locations to breed and catch them taking these practice flights. I’ve photographed grebes flying twice and I’d love to try for three times.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good. Birds make it more interesting.<\/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":"

Yesterday afternoon I was at my local pond where I photographed not one but two Pied-billed Grebes in flight. This is rarely seen and rarely photographed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":136273,"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":[27,135,709,26],"tags":[4051,4052,5423,4122,7172,707,4009,4166,1984,1902,8018,3996,373],"class_list":["post-45002","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-pied-billed-grebes","category-salt-lake-county-utah","category-utah","tag-adults","tag-flight","tag-floating","tag-flying","tag-grebe-flying","tag-grebes-2","tag-pied-billed-grebe","tag-podilymbus-podiceps","tag-pond","tag-rare","tag-urban","tag-water","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/pied-pilled-grebe-flight-mia-mcpherson-8500.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-bHQ","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":118683,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/12\/02\/immature-pied-billed-grebe-being-chased-and-other-grebe-behaviors\/","url_meta":{"origin":45002,"position":0},"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":119982,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/01\/21\/bathing-pied-billed-grebe-photo\/","url_meta":{"origin":45002,"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":109913,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/01\/30\/fluffy-butt-pied-billed-grebe\/","url_meta":{"origin":45002,"position":2},"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":120188,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/01\/28\/pied-billed-grebe-from-a-distance-and-up-close\/","url_meta":{"origin":45002,"position":3},"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":[]},{"id":116150,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/09\/20\/late-summer-baby-pied-billed-grebes\/","url_meta":{"origin":45002,"position":4},"title":"Late Summer Baby Pied-billed Grebes","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 20, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"On my most recent trip to Bear River MBR, I had a huge thrill. I found four baby Pied-billed Grebes still in their striped juvenile plumage in the marsh.","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":"Four baby Pied-billed Grebes in late summer, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/pied-billed-grebe-babies-mia-mcpherson-0852.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/pied-billed-grebe-babies-mia-mcpherson-0852.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/pied-billed-grebe-babies-mia-mcpherson-0852.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/pied-billed-grebe-babies-mia-mcpherson-0852.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":118211,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/11\/13\/young-pied-billed-grebe-in-late-november\/","url_meta":{"origin":45002,"position":5},"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":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45002","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=45002"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45002\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/136273"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45002"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45002"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45002"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}