Gluttony can get one in trouble.
- I’ve posted several other photos of this happy family in the past but this one is new to my blog.
1/2500, f/8, ISO 800, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in
I photographed this family of Western Grebes in August of 2015 at Bear River MBR as one of the adults was back brooding chicks (carrying them on their back). In this situation it’s always the other parent that provides food (usually small fish) for the youngsters and occasionally for the back brooding adult. When this photo was taken the other parent had just swam past them (we can see its wake in the water and I’ve cropped the image to include the tip of its tail).
Just before the second parent passed them one of the chicks jumped overboard and was swimming alongside the adult but it was so excited about the possibility of getting food from the parent in the lead, and getting that food before its sibling did, it made the mistake of swimming directly in front of the adult it had been riding on. So the poor little guy was pushed almost completely beneath the surface as the faster adult began to run over it. All but the top of its head disappeared beneath the surface before it was able to get to the other side of the adult and resurface.
Sadly, due to water management and phragmites control decisions made by managers at Bear River MBR almost the entire area of the refuge that the public has access to has been dry for three consecutive summers now. This has resulted in much reduced nesting habitat for grebes and other birds and an almost complete lack of opportunity for the public to view and enjoy bird behaviors like these.
I’ve asked Bear River MBR to make their management plan for that area of the refuge (unit 2D) public but they not only haven’t done so, they’ve completely ignored my request (and similar requests from others).
Personally I take issue with some of their management decisions but that’s a story for another time and eventually for another blog post.
Ron
Addendum #1: I’ve sent a link to this post to Erin Holmes the new manager at BRMBR because I wanted to be transparent about making my concerns about the refuge public. If she has any input, including possible clarifications or errors I may have made, I’ll include them at the first opportunity. Or perhaps she’ll comment herself. That’s unlikely but who knows…
My purpose certainly isn’t to stir up trouble. It’s just to find out what’s really going on out there. And most importantly, why. In the meantime birds are paying the price and they’ve been doing so for three years now.
Addendum #2 @ 9:13 AM: I just received an email response from Erin Holmes, new manager at BRMBR. She invited me to sit down and visit with her about “the future of the refuge” so I’m hoping to take her up on her offer tomorrow morning if it fits into both of our schedules. If it happens I’ll report back.
How refreshing to find a responsive and knowledgeable federal employee with some authority who’s willing to discuss such matters! Thank you, Erin.
I recently saw this behaviour with a red-necked grebe and a chick. Good capture of the behaviour.
I am curious to hear of a follow-up to your meeting.
Ron, good luck at your meeting on Thursday morning. It is wonderful that there are people like you who really care about wildlife and “hold people to task” for their neglect to certain aspects of the population. Thank you, Ron
Thanks, Alice. I highly doubt that deliberate neglect was part of this particular equation but at a minimum I hope to get a better understanding of what they’re doing out there and their motivation for some of the decisions they’ve made.
WONDERFUL that Erin will meet with you. I do hope you get answers you can accept.
And that it is a two way conversation.
Love the photo too.
Thanks, EC. I’m optimistic.
YES! SO happy Erin wants to meet with you – hope it’s productive……… 😉 Critters do tend to “suck hind tit” when it comes to many things……….. 🙁
Agreed, Judy. They do…
The last time I was out there I voiced the same concerns to the lady at the information desk. She said that the birds were still there and nesting as usual but just not where the public could view them. She said that keeping the water in the same ponds surrounding the loop was determined to have a negative effect on the wildlife by concentrating them in the same areas for an extended period. I didn’t buy it. Ponds and lakes exist in the same places naturally for extended periods of time. We also talked about the water situation which sounds pretty dire. Even though we had an exceptionally wet Winter there was not much inflow to the refuge. Seems like the antiquated Utah water rights laws are working against them. Many ranchers upstream (if not all) have prior water rights and seems that Utah’s water laws state that even if they don’t need the water, they have to use it or lose it. Pretty stupid in my opinion. So, they grow hay and alfalfa which consumes immense amounts of water that they sell to China and Korea. The added problem is that drives up the price of hay so that local ranchers can’t afford to buy it when necessary. That, coupled with the growing population and the proposed dams to be built on the Bear river to provide the water makes the future of the wildlife and the refuge (actually the whole Great Salt Lake ecosystem since the Bear river provides much of the inflow) look pretty bleak. Seems to me that if we just quit watering useless lawns, watering unnecessary crops, and other wasteful practices, we would have enough water for the foreseeable future and the Salt Lake ecosystem could recover and continue to exist. Just my 2 cents worth (and that’s probably all it is worth!).
I appreciate your 2 cents but it’s worth far more than that, Larry.
I don’t buy her line either, at least not significant parts of it.
Yes, some of the issues at the refuge are related to water shortages but not all of them. I hope to get a much better picture of what’s going on during my meeting with Erin.
Photo is hilarious; situation at Bear River, not so much. Government transparency is sorely lacking at all levels.
Marty, it’s looking like Erin might be the exception to the rule about government transparency being lacking. I certainly hope so and all indicators so far look good.
Such a serene scene with the Grebe family and all those muted earth tones. Contrasted with that blazing eye. Well done. I hope you will apprise of your meeting with Erin Holmes.
I certainly will, Lyle. Our meeting is scheduled for Thursday morning at 10.
I hope that you will be well received and that your input now and in the future may be well received. i was at Bear River in early June and it is a wonderful place. I hope to read good news tomorrow !! Gary, East Greenwich, RI
You picked a very good time to be there, Gary. It certainly doesn’t look like that now. It’s dry as a bone.
Although the infamous Mr. Gekko said, “Greed is good”, we know that for the most part it is not. Excellent photo even though showing the little guy getting run over. I have always enjoyed your Western Grebe photos that often include the juvenile riding on mom or dad’s back. That is a shame about the situation there at Bear River MBR. Obviously it is a real downer for you and other wildlife photographers, but even more stressing for the regional wildlife itself.
Thanks, Everett.
There have been similar issues at the refuge for at least three years now and they’re far from forthcoming about how they’re dealing with them, for whatever reason.
Cute! Those Grebes are SO funny besides being beautiful birds. 🙂 NOT amusing that they won’t respond to requests for their plans…… 🙁 Perhaps they think if they don’t put them out folks won’t raise a fuss until it’s “too late”…….. As usual sounds like “plans” are to suit humans rather than the wildlife that’s in their charge….. 🙁
“As usual sounds like “plans” are to suit humans rather than the wildlife that’s in their charge…..”
Judy, I could be wrong but that’s my suspicion too. All to often these decisions are made partially or completely for the convenience of hunters with nonconsumptive users of wildlife being completely ignored. And if the interest of those two groups conflict in some way, the latter group always loses.
Neat photo! Yes eagerness to be first can sometimes put one in last place. I always enjoy watching the family dynamics that take place with food. Oftentimes I wonder if parents pull little tricks like that to set an over-achiever in his place! 😏 The ‘Wonders of Bureaucracy’. I find myself trying to figure out why certain practices are started or maintained and it bugs me when an explanation isn’t given.
Thank you, Kathy.
The refuge has a new manager and the apparent dysfunction in management decisions may or may not be related to the transition. I’ve heard through the grapevine that they’re developing a new management plan but it still angers me that they never even responded to my request or to those of others, even though they initiated the discussion on their own Facebook page.
I suspect that for one reason or another they didn’t like the direction the discussion was going so they just decided to ignore it altogether.