{"id":51332,"date":"2018-03-21T06:47:13","date_gmt":"2018-03-21T12:47:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=51332"},"modified":"2025-03-15T04:32:34","modified_gmt":"2025-03-15T09:32:34","slug":"calling-pied-billed-grebe-it-is-breeding-season-for-these-grebes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/03\/21\/calling-pied-billed-grebe-it-is-breeding-season-for-these-grebes\/","title":{"rendered":"Calling Pied-billed Grebe – It Is Breeding Season For These Grebes"},"content":{"rendered":"

At my local pond it has been several weeks since I have seen groups of Pied-billed Grebes, I’ve only seen one or two at a time and that is partly because the pond doesn’t provide them with areas to nest that have little disturbance.<\/p>\n

\"CallingCalling Pied-billed Grebe in breeding plumage – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/3200, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Usually some time in February or early March these grebes leave the pond and head towards areas that have better nesting locations.<\/p>\n

I was even able to photograph some of these grebes in flight a few years ago during the time when they leave the local pond and I never thought I’d be able to do that. They migrate at night so I believe that the Pied-billed Grebes I photographed in flight<\/span><\/a> were simply conditioning their wings for longer flights because they didn’t fly very far.<\/p>\n

Two days ago I noticed one Pied-billed Grebe carrying vegetation in its bill which I presume it was gathering to build its floating nest at a small pond at Farmington Bay WMA and later on I heard the call of a Pied-billed Grebe, located the grebe and photographed it as it called.<\/p>\n

These grebes do have some interesting calls and I don’t seem to have many photos of them calling during their breeding season so I am glad I photographed this one the other day.<\/p>\n

Listen to a Pied-billed Grebe calling here<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Pied-billed Grebe I photographed calling is in its breeding plumage which means its bill appears more pied, or bi-colored, than it does when they aren’t in breeding plumage.<\/p>\n

With the Pied-billed Grebes in breeding plumage and carrying nesting materials I guess that means it won’t be long before I should start looking for their floating nests in the marshes and ponds here in northern Utah.<\/p>\n

If the sun would stop hiding behind the clouds I’d be doing that today. We need the moisture but I’d also like some bright sunny mornings too.<\/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":"

Two days ago I noticed one Pied-billed Grebe carrying vegetation in its bill which I presume it was gathering to build its floating nest at a small pond at Farmington Bay WMA and later on I heard the call of a Pied-billed Grebe, located the grebe and photographed it as it called.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":141638,"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":[4004,4053,4073,4072,877,707,4094,4009,4166,1984,4095],"class_list":["post-51332","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-adult","tag-breeding-plumage","tag-breeding-season","tag-calling","tag-grebe","tag-grebes-2","tag-marsh","tag-pied-billed-grebe","tag-podilymbus-podiceps","tag-pond","tag-wetlands"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t