![](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/pied-billed-grebe-3806-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"\/pied-billed-grebe-3806-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\n1\/3200, f\/5.6, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/p>\n
Pied-billed Grebes have more variety in diving technique than any other bird I’m aware of – about a half-dozen techniques have actually been named by researchers. Most of them are variations on the same head-first theme (similar to that of most other diving birds) but one of them, “gradual diving” is quite unique.<\/p>\n
Two days ago at Farmington I watched this grebe as it repeatedly dived for fish and interacted with other grebes (its bill shape looks a little strange because there’s a drop of water hanging down from the bottom of it). As usual its dives were always head-first.<\/p>\n
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- Note – this was a bright, cloudy day so exposing the bird properly made the surface of the water pretty bright in some of the following images.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
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![](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/pied-billed-grebe-3811-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"pied-billed-grebe-3811-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\n1\/3200, f\/5.6, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/p>\n
When I have my lens on these birds I’m always on the lookout for subtle behavioral cues that suggest it might be about to “gradual dive” and something about the posture of this grebe (I’m not even sure what it was) told me it was about to happen so I began to fire a long, extended burst of images.<\/p>\n
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![](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/pied-billed-grebe-3814-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"pied-billed-grebe-3814-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\n1\/3200, f\/5.6, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/p>\n
No matter which diving technique they use they expel air from between their feathers (by flattening them) and also expel air from their air sacs to make them less buoyant but the next cue I noticed that told me it was beginning a gradual dive was the fact that\u00a0the front of its body was beginning to sink lower into the water.<\/p>\n
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![](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/pied-billed-grebe-3827-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"pied-billed-grebe-3827-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\n1\/3200, f\/5.6, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/p>\n
Next its entire body began to sink. Notice that the grebe has no forward momentum – instead it’s sinking straight down.<\/p>\n
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![](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/pied-billed-grebe-3833-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"pied-billed-grebe-3833-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\n1\/1600, f\/5.6, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/p>\n
Then as it turned slightly toward me\u00a0it began to raise its rear end up to provide more weight above the surface to push the body downward.<\/p>\n
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![](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/pied-billed-grebe-3837-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"pied-billed-grebe-3837-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\n1\/2500, f\/5.6, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/p>\n
The top of the head and the tail are always the last to submerge. They have great control over the degree and speed of sinking and\u00a0occasionally I’ve seen them hold this position with their eyes just out of the water for some time.<\/p>\n
I’ve cropped several of these images to include the “water boils” to either side of the bird. These birds have considerable ability to rotate their tibiotarsus which allows them to move their feet above, below or level with their body so they can propulsively steer in any direction – including down. Those water boils are evidence of that ability.<\/p>\n
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![](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/pied-billed-grebe-3838-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"pied-billed-grebe-3838-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\n1\/3200, f\/5.6, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/p>\n
Once its eyes disappear the grebe is committed to completing the dive.<\/p>\n
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![](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/pied-billed-grebe-3839-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"pied-billed-grebe-3839-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\n1\/3200, f\/5.6, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/p>\n
The last thing to completely disappear from view is always the tip of the tail.<\/p>\n
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