{"id":9585,"date":"2013-09-25T03:40:06","date_gmt":"2013-09-25T09:40:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=9585"},"modified":"2025-07-22T13:49:50","modified_gmt":"2025-07-22T18:49:50","slug":"meeting-the-new-generation-of-western-grebes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/09\/25\/meeting-the-new-generation-of-western-grebes\/","title":{"rendered":"Meeting The New Generation Of Western Grebes"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"FirstFirst fall for a juvenile Western Grebe – Nikon D300, f6.3, 1\/1600, ISO 640, -0.3 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Two days ago I went to Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge<\/span><\/a> and saw that the water is still low. Many of the birds are too far away to photograph and that the best place for seeing birds close up was the south side of the auto tour route.<\/p>\n

There were some Western Grebes still in the area and some had young with them. The immature Western Grebe above was hatched this year and while it is beginning to look more like the adults there are still signs it hasn’t fully matured.<\/p>\n

The blacks aren’t nearly as black as on the adults, the eyes are nearly as red, the bill isn’t nearly as long and the plumage on the neck looks as curly as a Poodle that was just clipped.<\/p>\n

It won’t be long though before this youngster looks just like the adults heads south for the winter to return in the spring to find a territory to call its own.<\/p>\n

I’m having a blast meeting and photographing the new generation of Western Grebes at the refuge.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

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

I’m having a blast meeting and photographing the new generation of Western Grebes at the refuge. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":150616,"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":[124,27,1148,26,161],"tags":[699,877,707,4067,4071,4094,4035,4014,4095,4193],"class_list":["post-9585","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-utah","category-western-grebes","tag-aechmophorus-occidentalis","tag-grebe","tag-grebes-2","tag-immature","tag-juvenile","tag-marsh","tag-nature-photography","tag-western-grebe","tag-wetlands","tag-young"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/western-grebe-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-7619.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-2uB","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5171,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/06\/12\/hitching-a-ride-grebe-chicks\/","url_meta":{"origin":9585,"position":0},"title":"Hitching A Ride – Grebe Chicks","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"June 12, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"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.","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 Western Grebe with three chicks on its back, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/western-grebes-mia-mcpherson-6735.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/western-grebes-mia-mcpherson-6735.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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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, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/clarks-grebe-spring-mia-mcpherson-5961.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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