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<\/a><\/p>\nYesterday morning I photographed this adult Western Grebe with its leg and foot in the air. Even though I see them do this often I still think it’s a very strange behavior. This image grabbed my attention because of\u00a0another of those\u00a0“little things” that often catch my eye. In this case it’s the similar position and angle of the raised wing and raised foot that is repeated in the reflection.<\/p>\n
As we’ll soon see there’s good reason for both the elevated foot and the raised wing.<\/p>\n
Seeing\u00a0and photographing the behavior\u00a0reminded me that it’s been almost exactly\u00a05 years since I explained to blog readers what’s going on here and the reason for it. Knowing that most current readers haven’t seen that post I decided to rerun it below. The following post and information was published on October 7, 2012 but for this version I’ve rewritten much of the text and cleaned up the formatting.<\/p>\n
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Anyone who has spent much time observing Western Grebes (or their close relatives, Clark\u2019s Grebes) has\u00a0likely observed\u00a0this curious behavior more than once. But before I illustrate and explain why they do it\u00a0a little background is\u00a0in order.<\/p>\n
Grebes are unique to most other\u00a0water birds in two ways that are related to the behavior:\u00a01.)\u00a0their legs are attached to their bodies at the rear, rather than underneath and 2.)\u00a0the toes of grebes are lobed instead of webbed.<\/p>\n
Having legs attached at the rear\u00a0allows for efficient swimming but causes\u00a0extreme clumsiness on land\u00a0so they rarely venture onto land and when they do they often fall down\u00a0after just a few steps. They literally can’t walk. This leg attachment position is so distinctive of grebes\u00a0that the genus name of four of the\u00a0North American grebe species is Podiceps<\/em> (from \u201cpodicis\u201d meaning anus or vent\u00a0and\u00a0\u201cpes\u201d meaning foot) \u2013 in other words, \u201canus foot\u201d (and yes, I\u2019m having a hard time resisting a joke line or two with that phrase\u2026)<\/p>\n Recent experimental work with grebes has demonstrated that the lobes on the toes function much like the hydrofoil blades of a propeller but that discussion will have to wait for another day.<\/p>\n Ok, with that background covered, on to this strange behavioral quirk\u00a0of the Western Grebe.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Without warning, and for no apparent reason, they\u00a0often stick one of\u00a0their legs and a weird-looking foot out\u00a0behind them (which I think looks pretty silly).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Sometimes they\u2019ll do a simultaneous wing stretch, but only rarely.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Occasionally they\u2019ll hold the foot high in the air for quite a while and that can look even sillier.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Even the chicks do it.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n But\u00a0typically they only leave the foot behind them for a few seconds,\u00a0usually shaking it as you can see here from the tiny water droplets flying through the air and hitting the water\u2026<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n