{"id":15201,"date":"2013-05-13T04:42:11","date_gmt":"2013-05-13T10:42:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/?p=15201"},"modified":"2013-05-13T04:52:06","modified_gmt":"2013-05-13T10:52:06","slug":"the-raven-and-the-pied-billed-grebe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2013\/05\/13\/the-raven-and-the-pied-billed-grebe\/","title":{"rendered":"The Raven And The Pied-billed Grebe"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last week as I drove along the causeway to Antelope Island just after sunup I came across a Pied-billed Grebe on the shore that was\u00a0being tormented by a Common Raven.\u00a0 I still don’t fully comprehend what I witnessed.\u00a0 I’ll try to explain it\u00a0using the photos I got but they’re of poor quality because of sidelight, too much lens\u00a0and too little depth of field (for two active subjects)\u00a0and the inevitable consequences of trying to drive and photograph at the same time.<\/p>\n

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I had passed by these birds when Mia noticed them so\u00a0I had to back up to see what was going on.\u00a0 The grebe was covered with sand and the raven kept walking around it with great interest.<\/p>\n

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Occasionally the grebe would try to run away…<\/p>\n

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but with the leg placement so far back on the body (typical of grebes) the bird was extremely awkward…<\/p>\n

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and it did several face plants into the sand as it was trying to run at full speed (naturally I lost focus for this shot but you still get the idea).<\/p>\n

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Each time the raven followed the grebe.\u00a0 I fully expected the grebe to be killed…<\/p>\n

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but it never happened.\u00a0 The grebe got up and attempted to run one last time and eventually the raven flew off…<\/p>\n

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leaving the\u00a0grebe to sit on the sand and contemplate its next move.\u00a0 We watched it for several more minutes and when nothing more happened we drove on to the island.<\/p>\n

I’m puzzled by several things in this little mini-drama:<\/p>\n