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<\/p>\nPlus a rare landscape\/waterscape image\u00a0from me.<\/p>\n
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1\/2000, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n On August 11, 2016 I spent considerable time with a mated pair of Western Grebes and their fledglings at Bear River MBR. I believe this to be the male of the pair\u00a0but I can’t be sure. He plucked a small white feather off the surface of the water…<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/2500, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n and almost immediately swam over to one of his offspring and offered it to the youngster. In several of the initial photos of the behavior I didn’t have enough room to keep both birds entirely in frame so I cropped even more tightly to show a little more detail of the exchange.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/2500, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n The youngster grasped the feather in its bill…<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/2500, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n but dropped it\u00a0and had to retrieve it from the water.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/2500, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n Then it tried to maneuver the sticky, wet feather to the back of its bill for swallowing but…<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/2500, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n for the inexperienced young grebe that proved to be easier said than done. For a moment part of the feather plastered itself against the front of its face and partially covered an eye. But eventually the feather was swallowed.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/3200, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n A couple of minutes later the young grebe posed nicely for me,\u00a0appearing to be\u00a0happy and well-fed despite its seemingly unusual snack.<\/p>\n Many grebe species eat feathers, they eat lots of them and both adults and young birds do it. In fact feathers are often the first “meal” grebe chicks consume after hatching. At first glance the behavior would seem to be nonsensical since feathers are made\u00a0of\u00a0indigestible keratin (the same\u00a0protein fingernails are made out of) but there’s\u00a0method in their madness. I’ve covered the\u00a0behavior\u00a0in an earlier post and explained what we know about why they do it so I didn’t want to repeat all that here. But if you’re interested you can follow this link<\/a>.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n PS – On an unrelated note I thought some readers might be interested in seeing what it looked like on Antelope Island immediately after yesterday’s snowstorm. Park personnel reported up to 8″ of new snow on their Facebook page yesterday morning although by the time I got out there in early afternoon (late for me) much of the island seemed to have received less than that.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n This photo was taken on the northern tip of the island\u00a0in early afternoon yesterday. Here we’re looking north across a small arm of the\u00a0Great Salt Lake. Normally the water is a deep blue\u00a0or green but in inclement weather the combination of wind stirring up sediments\u00a0in the shallow water and reflected clouds often changes the color\u00a0to a more foreboding gray or\u00a0gray-green. Yesterday the wind was from the north and it was cold.<\/em><\/p>\n In the foreground across the water we see Fremont Island in partial shade and behind it the southern tip of the Promontory Mountains (there’s normally water in-between them). Fremont Island has been populated with large feral pigs for decades and though they’ve tried to eradicate them they’ve apparently been unsuccessful in wiping them out completely.\u00a0Occasionally pigs have been spotted attempting to get to Antelope Island from Fremont Island, especially when the water is low.\u00a0Park personnel are\u00a0very watchful for that happening because if pigs ever became established on Antelope Island it could become an ecological disaster.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Plus a rare landscape\/waterscape image from me.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/western-grebe-0196-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"western-grebe-0196-ron-dudley\\"")
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