{"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_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"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":34122,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/12\/13\/pied-billed-grebe-with-a-large-fish\/","url_meta":{"origin":49416,"position":0},"title":"Pied-billed Grebe With A Large Fish","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 13, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"When a few of the grebes caught sight of this Pied-billed Grebe with a large fish they started to chase it over the water.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Pied-billed Grebe with a large fish being chased by other grebes at Farmington Bay WMA in Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/pied-billed-grebe-fish-mia-mcpherson-7104.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/pied-billed-grebe-fish-mia-mcpherson-7104.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/pied-billed-grebe-fish-mia-mcpherson-7104.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/pied-billed-grebe-fish-mia-mcpherson-7104.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":42808,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/10\/24\/immature-pied-billed-grebe-running-on-the-water-with-its-prey-at-farmington-bay\/","url_meta":{"origin":49416,"position":1},"title":"Immature Pied-billed Grebe running on the water with its prey at Farmington Bay","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 24, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"I took a series of action photos of this immature Pied-billed Grebe running on the water with its prey as it was being chased by another grebe that was trying to steal the food this young grebe had caught.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Immature Pied-billed Grebe running on the water with its prey, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/pied-billed-grebe-juvenile-prey-running-mia-mcpherson-8978.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/pied-billed-grebe-juvenile-prey-running-mia-mcpherson-8978.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/pied-billed-grebe-juvenile-prey-running-mia-mcpherson-8978.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/pied-billed-grebe-juvenile-prey-running-mia-mcpherson-8978.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":31502,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/11\/02\/wintertime-and-pied-billed-grebes\/","url_meta":{"origin":49416,"position":2},"title":"Wintertime and Pied-billed Grebes","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 2, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"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.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Pied-billed Grebe in icy water, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/pied-billed-grebe-ice-mia-mcpherson-8258.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/pied-billed-grebe-ice-mia-mcpherson-8258.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/pied-billed-grebe-ice-mia-mcpherson-8258.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/pied-billed-grebe-ice-mia-mcpherson-8258.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":49416,"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":119982,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/01\/21\/bathing-pied-billed-grebe-photo\/","url_meta":{"origin":49416,"position":4},"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":43217,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/11\/22\/immature-pied-billed-grebe-running-across-the-water-with-prey\/","url_meta":{"origin":49416,"position":5},"title":"Immature Pied-billed Grebe running across the water with prey","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 22, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Last month I captured a series of images of an immature Pied-billed Grebe running across the water with prey in its bill at Farmington Bay WMA.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Immature Pied-billed Grebe being chased over the water, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/pied-billed-grebe-juvenile-prey-running-mia-mcpherson-8977.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/pied-billed-grebe-juvenile-prey-running-mia-mcpherson-8977.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/pied-billed-grebe-juvenile-prey-running-mia-mcpherson-8977.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/pied-billed-grebe-juvenile-prey-running-mia-mcpherson-8977.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}]}}