{"id":49416,"date":"2017-11-13T05:38:36","date_gmt":"2017-11-13T12:38:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=49416"},"modified":"2025-10-28T14:53:21","modified_gmt":"2025-10-28T19:53:21","slug":"pied-billed-grebe-with-prey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/11\/13\/pied-billed-grebe-with-prey\/","title":{"rendered":"Pied-billed Grebe With Prey"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Pied-billedPied-billed Grebe with a big fish – Nikon D500, f9, 1\/500, ISO 200, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Last winter I spent time photographing some Pied-billed Grebes at Farmington Bay WMA. They are feisty little grebes and I often have a great time just watching them preening, resting, squabbling, hunting for prey, and consuming it.<\/p>\n

Pied-billed Grebes aren’t as flashy looking as Western, Red-necked, Eared, Horned, or Clark’s Grebes but I find them to be just as interesting as any of the grebe species that are found in Utah.<\/p>\n

It can be especially fun to watch these small grebes catch a fish to eat and then see the other Pied-billed Grebes nearby try to steal the fish away from it because of the action that can occur.<\/p>\n

Last December I photographed this Pied-billed Grebe right after it caught a big fish and saw it swim around keeping an eye on the other grebes while trying to swallow its prey whole, kind of hard to do with a fish that big while on the move.<\/p>\n

There is a little wake behind the grebe in the photo because another grebe had gotten too close for this grebe’s comfort.<\/p>\n

\"Pied-billedPied-billed Grebe about to be chased – Nikon D500, f9, 1\/400, ISO 200, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

As the Pied-billed Grebe with the fish swam closer to me another pied-billed swam up to it to try to steal its prize away and I hoped to get some action shots of the two of them fighting over the fish.<\/p>\n

As luck would have it by the time the chase happened the birds were so close that my view of the birds was obstructed by vegetation between side of the road and the edge of the water.<\/p>\n

That happens to me a lot and as a bird photographer I realize that sometimes things get in the way and just accept it.<\/p>\n

Sometimes gracefully, sometimes not.<\/p>\n

I liked how menacing the out of focus Pied-billed Grebe<\/span><\/a> looked in this photo and the odd stretched out reflection of the grebe with the fish in its bill.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/a><\/span> to see more of my Pied-billed Grebe photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n

Other birds try to steal fish from Pied-billed Grebes too including gulls and mergansers, that is called kleptoparasitism.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It can be especially fun to watch these small grebes catch a fish to eat and then see the other Pied-billed Grebes nearby try to steal the fish away from it because of the action that can occur.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":162058,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_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":[27,1022,697,135,26],"tags":[4432,877,707,5638,4094,4009,4166,4106,6229,3996,4095,373],"class_list":["post-49416","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-utah","tag-fish","tag-grebe","tag-grebes-2","tag-kleptoparasitism","tag-marsh","tag-pied-billed-grebe","tag-podilymbus-podiceps","tag-prey","tag-steal","tag-water","tag-wetlands","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/pied-billed-grebe-fish-mia-mcpherson-8367.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-cR2","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":109913,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/01\/30\/fluffy-butt-pied-billed-grebe\/","url_meta":{"origin":49416,"position":0},"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":49416,"position":1},"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":49416,"position":2},"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":118211,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/11\/13\/young-pied-billed-grebe-in-late-november\/","url_meta":{"origin":49416,"position":3},"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":173109,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2026\/03\/26\/pied-billed-grebe-eating-a-feather-at-sequoyah-nwr\/","url_meta":{"origin":49416,"position":4},"title":"Pied-billed Grebe Eating A Feather At Sequoyah NWR","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 26, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"On one of my recent trips to Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge this week, I had fun photographing a Pied-billed Grebe eating a feather at Miner's Cove.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Pied-billed Grebe eating a feather, Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, Oklahoma","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/pied-billed-grebe-sequoyah-nwr-mia-mcpherson-1310.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/pied-billed-grebe-sequoyah-nwr-mia-mcpherson-1310.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/pied-billed-grebe-sequoyah-nwr-mia-mcpherson-1310.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/pied-billed-grebe-sequoyah-nwr-mia-mcpherson-1310.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":49416,"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\/49416","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=49416"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49416\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/162058"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49416"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49416"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}