{"id":5171,"date":"2012-06-12T03:55:13","date_gmt":"2012-06-12T09:55:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=5171"},"modified":"2025-07-22T11:15:01","modified_gmt":"2025-07-22T16:15:01","slug":"hitching-a-ride-grebe-chicks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/06\/12\/hitching-a-ride-grebe-chicks\/","title":{"rendered":"Hitching A Ride – Grebe Chicks"},"content":{"rendered":"

Grebe chicks are showing up all over at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge<\/span><\/a> in northern Utah and they are just adorable to see and photograph.<\/p>\n

\"AdultAdult Western Grebe with three chicks on its back – Nikon D300, f7.1, 1\/1600, ISO 400, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I have been seeing Clark’s, Pied-billed, and Western Grebes with chicks but I haven’t gotten any close images of the Pied-billed Grebes with their young so I am focusing on Western and Clark’s Grebe images for this post.<\/p>\n

Young Western and Clark’s Grebes hitch rides on their parents backs, the image above shows a Western Grebe (Aechmophorus occidentalis<\/em>) with three chicks of different sizes. The eggs of Western and Clark’s Grebes do not hatch all at the same time so there are often several days between the oldest and youngest chicks. The chick at the tail end of the adult was larger than the other two birds.<\/p>\n

\"AdultAdult Clark’s Grebe with hitch hiking chick – Nikon D300, f6.3, 1\/1600, ISO 500, -0.3 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

There is only one chick visible on this adult Clark’s Grebe (Aechmophorus clarkii<\/em>)\u00a0back but there could be more underneath the wings. When the grebe chicks\u00a0are very young it can be difficult to see them because they hide under the feathers, sometimes the only way to know there are\u00a0tiny young birds\u00a0on the back of the adults is that the wings feathers are usually raised higher than they normally would be.<\/p>\n

I’ll be doing more posts soon on Western and Clark’s Grebes.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Clark\u2019s Grebe photos plus facts and information about this species. Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Western Grebe photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Grebe chicks are showing up all over at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge (aka Bear River National Wildlife Refuge) in northern Utah and they are just adorable to see and photograph.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":150576,"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":[124,27,1148,162,26,161],"tags":[4155,699,1195,4068,4016,877,707,1181,4067,4071,4094,1180,3996,4014,4095,4193],"class_list":["post-5171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge","category-avian","category-box-elder-county-utah","category-clarks-grebes","category-utah","category-western-grebes","tag-aechmophorus-clarkii","tag-aechmophorus-occidentalis","tag-back-brooding","tag-chicks","tag-clarks-grebe","tag-grebe","tag-grebes-2","tag-hitching","tag-immature","tag-juvenile","tag-marsh","tag-ride","tag-water","tag-western-grebe","tag-wetlands","tag-young"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/western-grebes-mia-mcpherson-6735.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-1lp","jetpack_sharing_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":101210,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/03\/29\/clarks-and-western-grebe-images\/","url_meta":{"origin":5171,"position":0},"title":"Clark’s And Western Grebe Images","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 29, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"On my trip up to Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge last week I was delighted to see and hear both Clark's and Western Grebe species from the auto tour loop.","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":"Spring Clark's Grebe close up, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/clarks-grebe-spring-mia-mcpherson-5961.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/clarks-grebe-spring-mia-mcpherson-5961.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/clarks-grebe-chick-prey-mia-mcpherson-7796.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/clarks-grebe-chick-prey-mia-mcpherson-7796.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/clarks-grebe-chick-prey-mia-mcpherson-7796.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/clarks-grebe-chick-prey-mia-mcpherson-7796.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":116223,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/09\/24\/demure-looking-western-grebe\/","url_meta":{"origin":5171,"position":2},"title":"Demure Looking Western Grebe","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 24, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Last week, I photographed this demure looking Western Grebe on one of the water units from the auto tour loop at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge.","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":"Demure looking Western Grebe at Bear River MBR, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/western-grebe-demure-adult-mia-mcpherson-0816.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/western-grebe-demure-adult-mia-mcpherson-0816.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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Refuge","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Clark's Grebe adult at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/clarks-grebe-adult-mia-mcpherson-8300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/clarks-grebe-adult-mia-mcpherson-8300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/clarks-grebe-adult-mia-mcpherson-8300.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/clarks-grebe-adult-mia-mcpherson-8300.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":125552,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/03\/23\/pair-of-clarks-grebes-at-bear-river-mbr\/","url_meta":{"origin":5171,"position":4},"title":"Pair Of Clark’s Grebes At Bear River MBR","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 23, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"On my most recent trip to Bear River MBR, I stopped my Jeep on the west side of the auto tour loop to take a few images of a pair of Clark's Grebes.","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":"Pair of Clark's Grebes on the last day of winter, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, 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2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Cute Alert! Whenever I see Western Grebe chicks riding piggyback on their parents I can't help thinking that there is a definite cute factor going on right in front of me.","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":"Western Grebe with a chick riding piggyback, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/western-grebe-bear-river-national-wildlife-refuge-mia-mcpherson-5089.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/western-grebe-bear-river-national-wildlife-refuge-mia-mcpherson-5089.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/western-grebe-bear-river-national-wildlife-refuge-mia-mcpherson-5089.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/western-grebe-bear-river-national-wildlife-refuge-mia-mcpherson-5089.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\/5171","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=5171"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5171\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/150576"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}