Rushing Western Grebes And Murphy’s Law
As hard and as often as I’ve tried over the years I’ve only been able to photograph grebes while they’re rushing, and do it well, two or three times.
Tag: rushing
Western Grebe Running On Water Using A Technique I’d Never Seen
“Rushing” Western Grebes
The ritualized displays and courtship ceremonies of Western Grebes are among the most complex known in the bird world.
Eureka! Western Grebes Really Do Have Wings
The fully extended wings of Western Grebes are rarely seen by humans for several reasons:
Western Grebes “Rushing”
I’ve found the rushing behavior of Western Grebes to be one of the more difficult bird photography challenges of all. First of all you have to be there when it happens and I’ve only seen it a handful of times.
“Rushing” Western Grebes
The ritualized displays and courtship ceremonies of Western Grebes are among the most complex known in the bird world. One of them is called the “rushing ceremony” which includes 5 distinct phases – only one of which is actually referred to as “rushing”. Yesterday I finally was able to photograph this most dramatic part of the display and believe me it’s been a long time coming. Mia and I were photographing a pair of these grebes with chicks and though we both were aware of another small group of grebes a little further away I was concentrating so intently on those chicks that I didn’t notice what Mia noticed – that the behavior of two of those birds had suddenly changed. She said “they’re going to do something” so all I had time to do was quickly aim my lens at these birds and fire away. Without Mia I’d have missed the entire sequence. 1/2500, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc When rushing, the two birds (usually a mated pair but two males may also do it to attract females) lunge forward and rise completely out of the water. 1/2500, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc As their legs and feet start to churn at incredible speeds their bodies begin to become more vertical… 1/2500, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc until the birds are almost completely vertical to the water and their feet are slapping the surface so fast (16-20 steps per second) that the slapping and splashing noise is loud and can be heard a great distance away. The…
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Western Grebe Running On Water Using A Technique I’d Never Seen
“Rushing” Western Grebes
The ritualized displays and courtship ceremonies of Western Grebes are among the most complex known in the bird world.
Eureka! Western Grebes Really Do Have Wings
The fully extended wings of Western Grebes are rarely seen by humans for several reasons:
Western Grebes “Rushing”
I’ve found the rushing behavior of Western Grebes to be one of the more difficult bird photography challenges of all. First of all you have to be there when it happens and I’ve only seen it a handful of times.
“Rushing” Western Grebes
The ritualized displays and courtship ceremonies of Western Grebes are among the most complex known in the bird world. One of them is called the “rushing ceremony” which includes 5 distinct phases – only one of which is actually referred to as “rushing”. Yesterday I finally was able to photograph this most dramatic part of the display and believe me it’s been a long time coming. Mia and I were photographing a pair of these grebes with chicks and though we both were aware of another small group of grebes a little further away I was concentrating so intently on those chicks that I didn’t notice what Mia noticed – that the behavior of two of those birds had suddenly changed. She said “they’re going to do something” so all I had time to do was quickly aim my lens at these birds and fire away. Without Mia I’d have missed the entire sequence. 1/2500, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc When rushing, the two birds (usually a mated pair but two males may also do it to attract females) lunge forward and rise completely out of the water. 1/2500, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc As their legs and feet start to churn at incredible speeds their bodies begin to become more vertical… 1/2500, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc until the birds are almost completely vertical to the water and their feet are slapping the surface so fast (16-20 steps per second) that the slapping and splashing noise is loud and can be heard a great distance away. The…