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<\/p>\nWestern Grebes are known to have an extended breeding season but this is getting ridiculous.<\/p>\n
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1\/4000, f\/6.3, ISO 800, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n I photographed this adult Western Grebe as it\u00a0back-brooded two very\u00a0young chicks with another trailing behind yesterday at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge in northern Utah.<\/p>\n Yes, I said yesterday, <\/em>September 20th!<\/p>\n I have never before\u00a0seen grebe chicks this young\u00a0so late in the season. They look to be significantly less than half-grown so they still have to finish growing, develop their juvenile plumage,\u00a0learn to\u00a0fish efficiently\u00a0and fly and become independent from their parents before they migrate and winter is fast approaching. I have serious doubts all that can be accomplished in time.<\/p>\n I can only speculate as to why they’re so late. Perhaps climate change played a role but I also suspect something else. Early this past summer\u00a0in anticipation of a planned construction project\u00a0Bear River MBR drained the water from several very large\u00a0impoundments and canals these grebes\u00a0have always relied\u00a0on heavily for breeding. The water had been drained for weeks when the refuge changed their minds (they announced publicly that they had done so)\u00a0and for whatever reason decided against doing the construction\/maintenance project but by that time\u00a0a significant portion of the breeding season was already history.<\/p>\n Even though those canals and impoundments were eventually filled again they’ve been largely devoid of breeding grebes as compared to previous years. Though I don’t know the full story I can only wonder if this was poor planning by the refuge. I can’t imagine why they would choose to work on\u00a0such a disruptive project during the breeding season in the first place considering their obvious mission and purpose and then change their minds about doing\u00a0the project\u00a0after the damage had been done.<\/p>\n It’s always\u00a0possible that my\u00a0implied criticism here\u00a0(I didn’t accuse, I only questioned)\u00a0may have varying amounts of validity, or even none at all – after all I’m not a wildlife manager and I don’t know the full story. If any of my readers can\u00a0shed some light on all this I’d love to be a little better informed and if I’m off-track I’ll be happy to clarify publicly.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n Notes:<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Western Grebes are known to have an extended breeding season but this is getting ridiculous.<\/p>\n\n