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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/western-grebe-1357-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"western-grebe-1357-ron-dudley\\"")
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1\/2500, f\/8. 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<\/em><\/p>\n It may not look like it but there’s actually a family of 4\u00a0grebes\u00a0here – an adult, one chick in the water and two more on the back of the parent. If you look carefully you can see the top of the back of the second chick behind\u00a0the first and there’s a sliver of its head visible between the head of the first\u00a0chick and the neck of the parent.<\/p>\n The chick in the water had been trying desperately to catch a ride on the adult but there was simply no room up there and neither of the youngsters up top\u00a0was willing to give up its comfortable\u00a0spot.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/2000, f\/8. 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<\/em><\/p>\n Ten minutes later one of the chicks on the parent’s back had\u00a0abandoned ship\u00a0to go swimming and the third youngster (or maybe it was the one that had left, can’t remember) tried to climb on board. These are fat little guys and it isn’t easy getting up there so they usually\u00a0have to struggle to get it done (sometimes the adult will stick one of its legs backward so the chick can use it as a “ladder”). Here that chick\u00a0is using its lobed feet to push itself forward under the wing of the adult but the parent is swimming forward too so it’s easier said\u00a0than done. The disturbed water is from the desperate paddling of\u00a0the chick and not the adult.<\/p>\n Partially because\u00a0the adult is\u00a0looking\u00a0away from the viewer this is no more than a documentary or novelty shot but\u00a0it does amuse me.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Western Grebe chicks are both adorable and annoying, probably for their parents and I’m sure for me.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/western-grebe-1640-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"western-grebe-1640-ron-dudley\\"")
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