At this age Western Grebe chicks are heavy-bodied, small headed, loud, awkward and demanding. They alternately ride on the back of each parent (back brooding) as the other adult rests or hunts for fish to feed to its family. At this stage the youngsters are good swimmers and there’s often not enough room on the parents back for all of the chicks to ride comfortably anyway so the parent uses an interesting strategy to “dump its load” into the water when it needs a break. The adult raises almost vertically in the water, often doing a simultaneous and controlled wing flap, which forces the chicks to slide off the back and into the water.
But the desires of parent and youngsters are often at odds in this regard and the chicks usually resist the unceremonious dumping, which is exactly what is happening here at Bear River MBR.
1/3200, f/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc
The adult is just settling back down into the water after rising vertically and the chicks (two of them) are desperately fighting a losing battle to remain on board. Notice that the adult continues to hold its wings up which reduces the grip of the youngsters on its back as they slide off. The weight of their rotund and heavy bodies is dragging them down into the water as they try to hold on by plastering themselves down against the parent. A second or so later both chicks were in the drink.
This isn’t a great shot in the classic sense but I do think it shows the behavior pretty well.
This species rides low in the water when swimming and the chicks are largely hidden in the plumage of the parents when “hitching a ride” so it’s usually difficult to appreciate how heavy bodied they are but I think you get a sense of it with both the adult and the chicks in this image.
Ron
Ron
Just watched on my PC and can see the panic (well maybe I am anthropomorphizing)the fear in the eye of the chick furthest up trying to stay on. Great photo. And I can see just how plump they are as you said.
Wonderful shot…knew loons did this but didn’t know grebes did…cute as they are, I can’t blame her for wanting to dump them…I’ve wanted to dump all four of mine one time or another, but rising vertically didn’t work for me. I wonder at what age their eyes turn red…
Patty, Both Western and Clark’s Grebes do this “dumping”. Believe me, if I was a grebe parent I’d dump the chicks as often as I could too. They’re more obnoxiously demanding than any youngster I’ve seen outside of human ones in grocery stores. I’m not sure when the eyes turn red – looked for it but came up empty.
‘Loud, awkward and demanding’ sums up so many youngsters. Such a shame the drop them in the drink option isn’t more widely available.
Thanks Ron – I really enjoyed this image and your insight into the behaviour.
“Such a shame the drop them in the drink option isn’t more widely available.”
That made me smile, Elephant’s Child. Naw, it made me chuckle out loud. I remember some times with my daughter…
Thank you, Ron, for a good chuckle. I love the photo – it enables me to imagine the details of the drama. No matter how gorgeous some of the other photos are, I sometimes think that the behavior shots are the best.
Susan, Though I like both types of shots I too generally prefer behaviors. Almost by definition the photos aren’t as “perfect” but there’s just something about behaviors…
I think it’s a wonderful shot Ron! Thanks so much for sharing.
Charlotte
Thank you, Charlotte.
Ron, I’ve never seen a baby grebe yet & would love to witness this behavior! I got to your site via a post about your Prairie Falcon on FB by a friend in Idaho. Very stunning photo’s & interesting story! I also love the shot of the Sage Grouse with the cows. It is real! I live in Central Montana & am the sec/tres of our small bird club here. We have a SG lek about an hour north of us. We had an overnite field trip up there last spring (2012)to watch them display. There were about 30 birds. We counted 13 males I believe & were incredibly close to them. One of our members is the biologist up there on the Charles M. Russell Refuge. It was very cool. I had trouble with my camera that morning & unfortunately didn’t get very good pics. I have seen SG display twice in central Oregon, but seeing the Greater SG was absolutely awesome! I look forward to perusing your site & blog now that I have found it. Thanks, DEB
I hope you get to see your grebe chicks, Deb. It may not too late for some of the later breeders up north in Montana. I can imagine how exciting it was for you to see the lek behaviors – something I’ve yet to witness.
Interesting to see. I like behavioural images and thus is no exception. I’m not sure if our grebes dump or not. I agree with Paul that it would have made an interesting movie.
Thank you, Sonja.
A very amusing picture Ron!
I’d like to have seen this going on in a movie I think. But you’ve certainly captured an interesting moment of parent frustration with these tenacious chicks.
The look of the parent seems to say; “This should do it…!”
Thanks, Paul. Yes, a video of this behavior would be fun to see, especially if the action were slowed down significantly.