![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/pied-billed-grebe-6158-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"pied-billed-grebe-6158-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\nI’ll narrow your odds.\u00a0He isn’t\u00a0threatening an overhead rival or predator and he isn’t catching raindrops in his mouth either.<\/p>\n
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1\/2500, f\/6.3, ISO 640, 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 Three days ago at Farmington Bay WMA this Pied-billed Grebe swimming in duckweed\u00a0had been acting weird even before I got my lens on ‘him’ (I don’t know\u00a0its sex). At first I\u00a0couldn’t tell what he was doing, even after I had\u00a0him in my viewfinder. He just kept sticking his beak straight\u00a0up into the air and opening and closing it as he waved it around. And he did it repeatedly.<\/p>\n Do you have any guesses about the cause of this unusual behavior?<\/p>\n If I had to venture a\u00a0guess with only this photo as evidence I’d say he was\u00a0probably swallowing a fish that had just disappeared down\u00a0his throat. But that wasn’t the case either.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/1600, f\/6.3, ISO 640, 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 He was trying to rid himself of this small and obviously extremely annoying down feather stuck to his\u00a0bill (apparently air currents kept it out of view in the previous photo and a few others).<\/p>\n Grebes sometimes eat feathers they pull out while grooming and it’s possible that may have been his original intention with this one. But by the time I got my lens on him it seemed obvious that he had no interest in eating it and just wanted to get rid of the damned thing, or so it appeared to me.<\/p>\n Wings are wonderful but in certain situations hands would sure be a welcome alternative.<\/p>\n When shaking his head didn’t work either\u00a0he resorted to just about the only other practical alternative.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/2000, f\/6.3, ISO 640, 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 The frustrated grebe\u00a0dove into the water\u00a0in an apparent attempt to wash it away. I’ll bet it worked too.\u00a0Those tiny down feathers can be incredibly sticky when they’re wet and this one really didn’t want to go away.<\/p>\n I guess it doesn’t take much to amuse me but I was definitely\u00a0smiling.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I’ll narrow your odds. He isn’t threatening an overhead rival or predator and he isn’t catching raindrops in his mouth either.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/pied-billed-grebe-6161-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"pied-billed-grebe-6161-ron-dudley\\"")
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