![\"pied-billed](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/pied-billed-grebe-0788-ron-dudley.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n\u00a01\/1250, \u00a0f\/8, ISO 500, Canon 7D, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n The first thing that caught my attention was this Pied-billed Grebe on top of the ice.\u00a0 These grebes\u00a0rarely come out of the water because with their legs placed so far back on their body they’re incredibly awkward on a solid surface.\u00a0 In this shot you can see how far back the attachment is between the leg and the body.\u00a0 This pose is not a leg-stretch – the bird is holding its large, dark (heat absorbing)\u00a0lobed foot toward the morning sun as a warming technique common to several\u00a0grebe species.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a01\/2500, \u00a0f\/8, ISO 400, Canon 7D, 500 f\/4,\u00a0 not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n There were about two dozen grebes, one American Coot and this Common Merganser on the pond.\u00a0 The merganser was reveling in its role as pond bully.\u00a0 As it slowly cruised the pond it would often act aggressively like this toward the much smaller grebes as it approached them.\u00a0\u00a0 I was very surprised by how little the grebes reacted to the threats – they would let the merganser get very close and then\u00a0just swim slowly out of its way.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a01\/4000,\u00a0 f\/7.1, ISO 500, Canon 7D, 500 f\/4,\u00a0 not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0Then the merganser decided to join the first grebe on top of the ice.\u00a0 The grebe was only slightly taken aback by the unexpected move at such close quarters…<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a01\/4000, \u00a0f\/7.1, ISO 500, Canon 7D, 500 f\/4,\u00a0 not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n but then the merganser showed its displeasure at having the grebe in what it considered its space\u00a0by proceeding to bite the head of the grebe multiple times.\u00a0 Incredibly the grebe seemed to ignore the abuse…<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a01\/4000,\u00a0 f\/7.1, ISO 500, Canon 7D, 500 f\/4,\u00a0 not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0and the merganser apparently decided that the plucky little grebe wasn’t going to be intimidated…<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a01\/4000, \u00a0f\/8, ISO 500, Canon 7D, 500 f\/4,\u00a0 not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n so the lion and the\u00a0lamb laid down together in peace.<\/p>\n At this point I became quite concerned about the grebe, worrying that it was frozen into the ice which is a fairly common occurrence in northern Utah during winter.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a01\/1600,\u00a0 f\/8, ISO 500, Canon 7D, 500 f\/4,\u00a0 not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0Eventually the merganser got up, stretched and then swam off.\u00a0 But the grebe stayed in position.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a01\/1250, \u00a0f\/7.1, ISO 500, Canon 7D, 500 f\/4,\u00a0 not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n In the meantime the lone coot had found a treasure, a long-dead fish it had scrounged off the bottom of the pond.\u00a0 Coots are primarily vegetarians, eating vascular aquatic\u00a0plants and algae but especially in winter they also consume\u00a0aquatic invertebrates, fish, tadpoles and even some carrion.\u00a0\u00a0 I’ve\u00a0actually seen them eat chicken and other bait\u00a0that ethics-challenged photographers have used to draw eagles in close.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a01\/800, \u00a0f\/7.1, ISO 500, Canon 7D, 500 f\/4,\u00a0 not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n The coot took the fish to the same piece of ice where the original grebe was and began to feed.\u00a0 The grebe pecked at the fish a couple of times and then seemed to ignore it.\u00a0 At this point I became highly concerned for the grebe because it had been on the ice for at least 40 minutes.\u00a0 I considered trying to rescue it but that would mean wading through the pond in sub-zero temperatures and I\u00a0was less than\u00a0thrilled\u00a0by that prospect…<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a01\/2500,\u00a0 f\/7.1, ISO 500, Canon 7D, 500 f\/4,\u00a0 not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n But a few minutes later, as the coot was finishing off the fish, the grebe was gone.\u00a0 To say I was relieved is an understatement.<\/p>\n And actually in preparing this post I noticed that I should have realized much earlier that\u00a0the grebe hadn’t been stuck in the ice.\u00a0 If you compare the position of the grebe in the first shot to its position in later images you can see that it has moved to the other side of the reed laying across the ice.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a01\/4000, \u00a0f\/7.1, ISO 500, Canon 7D, 500 f\/4,\u00a0 not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n All the while that the grebe\/merganser\/coot\u00a0behaviors were playing out, other grebes were putting on quite the show.\u00a0 As I reported in a recent post, groups of grebes would suddenly rush across the water.\u00a0 Usually when I’ve seen similar behaviors one grebe is trying to steal a fish from another but on this day there were no fish involved.\u00a0 They just seemed to explode as a group for no apparent reason.\u00a0 I’m sure there was a reason but what it was still mystifies me.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n