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<\/p>\nGrebes eat feathers. Lots of feathers. In fact grebes are the only birds known to regularly and deliberately eat their own feathers. The stomach contents of some grebes have been found to be more than 50% feathers and their tendency to eat them, and to feed them to their chicks, can make for some interesting photo-ops.<\/p>\n
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1\/2000, f\/8, ISO 500, Canon 40D, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS USM + EF 1.4 Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n When I was rooting around my grebe archives a few days ago I found several interesting photos I’ve never posted before and this is one of them. I like its simplicity with the feather in the adult’s beak, the chick’s interest focused on the feather and that intensely red eye pulling the viewer’s attention to the center of the most important area of the photo. I also like the reflected colors in the water, particularly at the top half of the frame.<\/p>\n Grebes eat feathers as a digestive aid and they begin doing so immediately after hatching when their parents begin feeding them to their chicks. Adults eat their own feathers during preening or pick up feathers floating on the surface of the water which is where this feather came from. Interestingly in this case the adult teased the youngster by keeping the feather just out of reach before deliberately dropping it into the water directly beneath the chick. I believe the adult was trying to teach the chick to be more independent by picking up its own feathers on the water but in this instance the youngster hadn’t yet learned the lesson and let the feather float away.<\/p>\n The reasons for feather-eating in grebes are complex, not fully understood and beyond the scope of this blog post but I\u2019ve covered that subject in much more detail here.<\/a> Click on the link if you have the interest.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Grebes eat feathers. Lots of feathers. In fact grebes are the only birds known to regularly and deliberately eat their own feathers.<\/p>\n