{"id":4975,"date":"2012-05-09T03:55:55","date_gmt":"2012-05-09T09:55:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=4975"},"modified":"2024-07-03T16:34:31","modified_gmt":"2024-07-03T21:34:31","slug":"too-many-eared-grebes-to-count","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/05\/09\/too-many-eared-grebes-to-count\/","title":{"rendered":"Too many Eared Grebes to Count"},"content":{"rendered":"

During spring and fall migration there can be so many Eared Grebes (Podiceps nigricollis<\/em>) on the Great Salt Lake that they are impossible to count.<\/p>\n

\"EaredEared Grebes on the Great Salt Lake – Nikon D200, handheld, f9, 1\/1000, ISO 400, Nikkor 18-200mm VR at 130mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

The diet of Eared Grebes include brine shrimp and alkali flies that are found in hyper saline environments such as Mono Lake in California and the Great Salt Lake in Utah. For most of the year Eared Grebes and Wilson’s Phalaropes are the two bird species that spend the most time in highly saline environments.<\/p>\n

It is amazing to stop on the causeway to Antelope Island State Park\u00a0and see thousands upon thousands of Eared Grebes. Yesterday day most of the grebes were north of the causeway and even with my high-powered lens I couldn’t see where the birds stopped.<\/p>\n

\"EaredEared Grebe in breeding plumage – Nikon D300, f6.3, 1\/2500, ISO 640, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I think that Eared Grebes<\/span><\/a> are gorgeous in breeding plumage with their primarily dark body and neck combined with the dark head in contrast to the wispy yellow plumes and cherry red eye. I like that crest too!<\/p>\n

My portfolio is seriously lacking in Eared Grebe images, something I should remedy.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

During spring and fall migration there can be so many Eared Grebes (Podiceps nigricollis) on the Great Salt Lake that they are impossible to count.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":130131,"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":[27,5310,377,1144,26],"tags":[4004,5311,4053,4229,5313,2761,4385,5290,4247,4245,4005,877,707,1525,5314,5178,4271,1526,6397,9947,3996],"class_list":["post-4975","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-brine-flies","category-eared-grebes","category-great-salt-lake-utah","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-alkali-flies","tag-breeding-plumage","tag-brine-fly","tag-brine-shrimp","tag-diet","tag-eared-grebe","tag-fall-migration","tag-flock","tag-flocks","tag-great-salt-lake","tag-grebe","tag-grebes-2","tag-hyper-saline","tag-hypersaline","tag-lake","tag-podiceps-nigricollis","tag-saline-environments","tag-spring-migration","tag-thousands","tag-water"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/eared-grebes-mia-mcpherson-7223.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-1if","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1616,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2010\/12\/13\/eared-grebe-gray-day\/","url_meta":{"origin":4975,"position":0},"title":"Eared Grebe – Gray Day","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 13, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Eared Grebes are the most abundant grebe in North America, there are times I see huge flocks of them on the Great Salt Lake numbering in the tens of thousands.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Eared Grebe on a gray day at Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/eared-grebe-mia-mcpherson-gray-day-5360.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/eared-grebe-mia-mcpherson-gray-day-5360.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/eared-grebe-mia-mcpherson-gray-day-5360.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/eared-grebe-mia-mcpherson-gray-day-5360.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":47763,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/07\/22\/water-dance-of-leucistic-eared-grebes-on-the-great-salt-lake\/","url_meta":{"origin":4975,"position":1},"title":"Water Dance of Leucistic Eared Grebes on the Great Salt Lake","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 22, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"I will probably never see and photograph so many leucistic Eared Grebes again in my life time as I did yesterday on the Great Salt Lake.","rel":"","context":"In "Antelope Island State Park"","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Nine Leucistic Eared Grebes on the Great Salt Lake, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, 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year I took this photo of an adult Eared Grebe floating past me on the Bear River from the road that goes to the auto tour route.","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":"Adult Eared Grebe on the Bear River, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/eared-grebe-breeding-plumage-mia-mcpherson-0433.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/eared-grebe-breeding-plumage-mia-mcpherson-0433.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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Why? Because, at this time of year, I can see both species.","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":"Eared Grebe in marsh habitat, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/eared-grebe-marsh-mia-mcpherson-4109.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/eared-grebe-marsh-mia-mcpherson-4109.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/eared-grebe-marsh-mia-mcpherson-4109.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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2019","format":false,"excerpt":"I have plenty of photos of Clark's, Western and Pied-billed Grebes but few of Eared Grebes and I am hoping that this breeding season I will be able to have more of these small grebes in my viewfinder.","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":"Eared Grebe in a marsh area, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/eared-grebe-bear-river-mbr-mia-mcpherson-4828.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/eared-grebe-bear-river-mbr-mia-mcpherson-4828.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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