{"id":50003,"date":"2017-12-21T05:56:58","date_gmt":"2017-12-21T12:56:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=50003"},"modified":"2025-10-28T18:14:04","modified_gmt":"2025-10-28T23:14:04","slug":"pied-billed-grebes-with-flying-crayfish-see-food-on-the-wing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/12\/21\/pied-billed-grebes-with-flying-crayfish-see-food-on-the-wing\/","title":{"rendered":"Pied-billed Grebes With Flying Crayfish – See Food On The Wing"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Pied-billedPied-billed Grebe and flying crayfish – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1250, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

The Pied-billed Grebes at the local pond have been feasting on the crayfish they have been finding and because they have I have gotten some very interesting behavior in my photos of the grebes.<\/p>\n

Three afternoons ago I captured images of not just one flying crayfish in the air but two of them because of the Pied-billed Grebes capturing and consuming the freshwater crustaceans.<\/p>\n

Crayfish go by many nicknames including crawfish, crawdads, yabbies, mountain and freshwater lobsters and mudbugs. I guess I could have titled this post “Pied-billed Grebes with Flying Mudbugs” too.<\/p>\n

I didn’t have the best angle of light in the first Pied-billed Grebe and flying crayfish but I liked that I caught two parts of the crayfish in mid air, the claw between the open bill of the grebe and the body of the crayfish about to take a dive into the pond.<\/p>\n

As a former swimming & diving competitor I feel that I can give the crayfish an 8.5 for the dive, it would splash less on entry if its little legs were closer to its head, other than that its form is wonderful. \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

\"Pied-billedPied-billed Grebe tossing a crayfish into the air – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/800, ISO 500, -0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

The Pied-billed Grebes<\/span><\/a> snap the legs with the claws off first, probably to protect themselves from getting injured by them, then consume the body of the crayfish.<\/p>\n

I was surprised to get two of the crayfish in “flight” on the same afternoon because of how quickly this all happens, the frame after this doesn’t even show the crayfish in it because by then it was in the water.<\/p>\n

These aren’t what I would call great images technically but the action and behavior make up for that in my opinion.<\/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":"

Three afternoons ago I captured images of not just one flying crayfish in the air but two of them because of the Pied-billed Grebes capturing and consuming the freshwater crustaceans.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"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":[27,135,709,26],"tags":[4004,6292,5392,4286,4136,6293,877,707,6294,5391,10698,4009,4166,1984,6296,8018,16369,373,6295],"class_list":["post-50003","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-avian","category-pied-billed-grebes","category-salt-lake-county-utah","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-crawdads","tag-crawfish","tag-eating","tag-foraging","tag-freshwater-lobsters","tag-grebe","tag-grebes-2","tag-mountain-lobsters","tag-mudbugs","tag-park","tag-pied-billed-grebe","tag-podilymbus-podiceps","tag-pond","tag-tossing","tag-urban","tag-willow-pond-park","tag-winter","tag-yabbies"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-d0v","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":50306,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/12\/27\/photographing-pied-billed-grebes-with-crayfish\/","url_meta":{"origin":50003,"position":0},"title":"Photographing Pied-billed Grebes With Crayfish – Oh What Fun Can Be Had","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 27, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"The funniest photo I took yesterday, the one that made me laugh out loud the hardest, was when a crayfish landed on the Pied-billed Grebe's head after the bird shook it hard.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Crayfish on a Pied-billed Grebe's head, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/pied-billed-grebe-cray-fish-mia-mcpherson-2088.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-cray-fish-mia-mcpherson-2088.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/pied-billed-grebe-cray-fish-mia-mcpherson-2088.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/pied-billed-grebe-cray-fish-mia-mcpherson-2088.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":55944,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/02\/05\/pied-billed-grebe-and-a-crayfish\/","url_meta":{"origin":50003,"position":1},"title":"Pied-billed Grebe And A Crayfish","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 5, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"The slow chase was soon to change and before I knew it both Pied-billed Grebes started running across the water and the grebe with the crayfish started racing across the water with the crayfish dangling from its bill.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Pied-billed Grebe racing across the water with a large crayfish, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/pied-billed-grebe-running-on-water-crayfish-mia-mcpherson-0039.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-running-on-water-crayfish-mia-mcpherson-0039.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/pied-billed-grebe-running-on-water-crayfish-mia-mcpherson-0039.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/pied-billed-grebe-running-on-water-crayfish-mia-mcpherson-0039.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":50003,"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":55577,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/01\/08\/pied-billed-grebe-with-crayfish-being-chased-across-the-water\/","url_meta":{"origin":50003,"position":3},"title":"Pied-billed Grebe With Crayfish Being Chased Across The Water","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 8, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"This image of a Pied-billed Grebe with a crayfish in its bill running across the water is one of those photos where I wish I could show the second grebe just outside of the frame chasing after it.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Pied-billed Grebe with crayfish running across the water, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/pied-billed-grebe-crayfish-mia-mcpherson-4292.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-crayfish-mia-mcpherson-4292.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/pied-billed-grebe-crayfish-mia-mcpherson-4292.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/pied-billed-grebe-crayfish-mia-mcpherson-4292.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":50003,"position":4},"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":50003,"position":5},"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. 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