![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/western-grebe-4731-horizontal-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"western-grebe-4731-horizontal-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\nIn bird photography, timing is often everything.<\/p>\n
Two days ago at Bear River MBR I found a mated pair of Western Grebes that were fishing while they were about 125′ apart on a large pond. I was about to leave them when I noticed them swimming directly toward each other. I actually anticipated that they might be about to perform the well-known “Greeting Ceremony” that they often perform when they come together after a mated pair has been temporarily separated.<\/p>\n
This time I anticipated correctly. I took 151 photos of them as they performed the complex ceremony that includes behaviors that researchers call “Advertising, Dip-shaking, Bob-shaking, Bob-preening, and Arch-clucking”. I may post some of those photos in the future but today I chose to post a single photo from the ceremony where I got lucky with the timing of the shot.<\/p>\n
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1\/6400, f\/6.3, ISO 800, Canon R5, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n As the male, in front, was performing for the female by stretching his neck vertically and pointing his bill down while his body was at about a 45\u00b0 angle in the water, I got two shots like this with the female peering at us through the narrow space between the male’s neck and bill.<\/p>\n One thing that makes this photo work for me is that I somehow avoided getting the shadow of the male’s neck on the female’s face. As you can tell from the narrow shadow on the back part of her head that we do see, the rising sun was directly over my left shoulder.<\/p>\n I’m finding it hard to explain why I like “peekaboo shots” similar to this one as much as I do so I’ll just post the photo and let it sink or swim based on its own merits.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Here’s a vertical composition of the same photo for those who don’t like seeing cut-off reflections.<\/p>\n The Greeting Ceremony is actually an abbreviated form of the better-known Rushing Ceremony so I was hoping that these birds would follow up by rushing. But this time it didn’t happen.<\/p>\n Maybe next time.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In bird photography, timing is often everything.\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/western-grebe-4731-vertical-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"western-grebe-4731-vertical-ron-dudley\\"")
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