{"id":6408,"date":"2012-10-23T07:37:23","date_gmt":"2012-10-23T13:37:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=6408"},"modified":"2025-10-27T16:47:59","modified_gmt":"2025-10-27T21:47:59","slug":"a-rare-sight-to-see-standing-pied-billed-grebes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/10\/23\/a-rare-sight-to-see-standing-pied-billed-grebes\/","title":{"rendered":"Rare Sight to See – Walking And Standing Pied-billed Grebes"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AdultAdult Pied-billed Grebe in breeding plumage<\/span><\/p>\n

This is how we normally see Pied-billed Grebes, floating on the water. This adult in breeding plumage was photographed near where I live at a local pond in December of 2009.<\/p>\n

\"JuvenileJuvenile Pied-billed Grebe in duckweed<\/span><\/p>\n

I photographed this juvenile Pied-billed Grebe at Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area on a visit to Utah in October of 2008 before I moved here. The Duckweed just about covered the whole surface of the pond.<\/p>\n

Because of the posterior placement of the legs and feet Grebes have a very difficult time standing or walking on solid ground.<\/p>\n

\"AdultAdult Pied-billed Grebe out of the water<\/span><\/p>\n

On September 21, 2009 I saw several Pied-billed Grebes out of the water walking and standing on solid ground while photographing birds at Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area<\/span><\/a>. Doesn’t this grebe look barrel-chested? We don’t normally get a view of a Pied-billed Grebe like this one.<\/p>\n

\"AdultAdult Pied-billed Grebe flapping its wings while standing<\/span><\/p>\n

This image was taken the same day as the one above and it is the same grebe flapping its wings as it walked towards the water.<\/p>\n

\"ThreeThree Pied-billed Grebes out of the water<\/span><\/p>\n

On the same date I saw several Pied-billed Grebes out of the water, some of them were resting (far left and right) while others were actively walking or flapping their wings while standing in an upright position.<\/p>\n

\"StandingStanding Pied-billed Grebe adult<\/span><\/p>\n

Three days later, September 24, 2009, at the same pond at Farmington Bay WMA there were more Pied-billed Grebes walking and standing on the shoreline while a few others floated on the water’s surface.<\/p>\n

\"StandingStanding adult Pied-billed Grebe flapping its wings<\/span><\/p>\n

I think this image shows how far the legs and feet of Pied-billed Grebes are placed at the back of their bodies very well.<\/p>\n

Around the time period these standing grebe images were taken there was an outbreak of Avian botulism that was killing grebes, ducks and other water birds in the Salt Lake Valley.<\/p>\n

“Avian botulism is a naturally occurring toxin in marshes, activated by warm temperatures and a lack of oxygen in the water. Outbreaks generally happen every August along the Great Salt Lake marshes.” – Salt Lake Tribune (click here to read the article<\/span><\/a>)<\/p>\n

I’m not a scientist or a wildlife biologist, I am simply a bird photographer who studies my subjects as I photograph them in the field.<\/p>\n

I did wonder if these Pied-billed Grebes instinctively knew that being in the water during the avian botulism outbreak of 2009 was a risk to their health and if that was why they were resting, walking around, and standing on the shoreline of the pond.<\/p>\n

I suppose a biologist who studies Pied-billed Grebes might know the answer to that.<\/p>\n

It was an unusual experience to see these Pied-billed Grebes standing upright and walking on the edge of this pond, some might even consider it rare.<\/p>\n

I know I haven’t seen or photographed them walking or standing since the 24th of September in 2009. You just never know what you might see while out in nature.<\/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":"

It was an unusual experience to see these Pied-billed Grebes standing upright and walking on the edge of this pond, some might even consider it rare.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":161943,"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":[1022,697,135,709,26],"tags":[4004,970,1903,4226,4053,4488,4620,877,707,4067,4071,4094,4009,4166,1902,953,1006,4236,4095],"class_list":["post-6408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-davis-county-utah","category-farmington-bay-wma","category-pied-billed-grebes","category-salt-lake-county-utah","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-autumn","tag-avian-botulism","tag-behavior","tag-breeding-plumage","tag-duckweed","tag-fall","tag-grebe","tag-grebes-2","tag-immature","tag-juvenile","tag-marsh","tag-pied-billed-grebe","tag-podilymbus-podiceps","tag-rare","tag-standing","tag-unusual","tag-walking","tag-wetlands"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/pied-billed-grebe-mia-mcpherson-4888.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-1Fm","jetpack_sharing_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":100364,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/03\/04\/adult-pied-billed-grebe-in-breeding-plumage\/","url_meta":{"origin":6408,"position":0},"title":"Adult Pied-billed Grebe In Breeding Plumage","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 4, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"While I was at my local pond three days ago this Pied-billed Grebe in breeding plumage caught my eyes because of its attitude.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult Pied-billed Grebe in breeding plumage, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/pied-billed-grebe-breeding-plumage-mia-mcpherson-8177.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/pied-billed-grebe-breeding-plumage-mia-mcpherson-8177.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/pied-billed-grebe-calling-breeding-plumage-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\/03\/pied-billed-grebe-calling-breeding-plumage-mia-mcpherson-8978.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/pied-billed-grebe-calling-breeding-plumage-mia-mcpherson-8978.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/pied-billed-grebe-calling-breeding-plumage-mia-mcpherson-8978.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":95659,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/09\/26\/young-pied-billed-grebe-in-juvenal-plumage\/","url_meta":{"origin":6408,"position":3},"title":"Young Pied-billed Grebe In Juvenal Plumage Compared To Adult Plumage Phases","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 26, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"About a week ago I photographed a young Pied-billed Grebe that was still in juvenal plumage on a pond at Farmington Bay WMA.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Young Pied-billed Grebe in juvenal plumage, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/pied-billed-grebe-immature-plumage-mia-mcpherson-4932.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/pied-billed-grebe-immature-plumage-mia-mcpherson-4932.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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Pied-billed Grebe up close, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/pied-billed-grebe-winter-urban-mia-mcpherson-3394.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-winter-urban-mia-mcpherson-3394.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/pied-billed-grebe-winter-urban-mia-mcpherson-3394.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/pied-billed-grebe-winter-urban-mia-mcpherson-3394.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":121411,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/02\/18\/pied-billed-grebe-breeding-and-nonbreeding-plumage-comparison\/","url_meta":{"origin":6408,"position":5},"title":"Pied-billed Grebe – Breeding And Nonbreeding Plumage Comparison","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 18, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Last week, I took a photo of a Pied-billed Grebe in breeding plumage at my local pond. Today, I decided to do a comparison with one in nonbreeding plumage.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"February Pied-billed Grebe in breeding plumage, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/pied-billed-grebe-adult-breeding-plumage-mia-mcpherson-8404.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/pied-billed-grebe-adult-breeding-plumage-mia-mcpherson-8404.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/pied-billed-grebe-adult-breeding-plumage-mia-mcpherson-8404.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/pied-billed-grebe-adult-breeding-plumage-mia-mcpherson-8404.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\/6408","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=6408"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6408\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/161943"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}