Gathering of Pied-billed Grebes – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1/2500, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
Two days ago I saw and photographed 123 Pied-billed Grebes in an area at Farmington Bay WMA that was probably less than the length of a city block, this photo show only 24 of the grebes, the other 99 were out of the frame. With my bird camera set up there wasn’t a way for me to photograph them all at one time and for whatever reason I didn’t think to pull out my landscape camera and take photos of them all and I really wish I had.
I’ve seen these large gatherings of Pied-billed Grebes before although it has usually happened in the month of February. Groups of grebes can be called a “water dance”, these grebes weren’t dancing though, they seemed to mostly be resting.
At my local pond during the month of February I see Pied-billed Grebes conditioning their wings to be able to take longer flights, I’ve wondered if that is to get ready to take off for their nesting grounds because they sure don’t nest at the pond. I even took my dream photos of Pied-billed Grebes in flight at that pond. Why were they dream photos? Because Pied-billed Grebes usually only fly at night.
I now wonder are these grebes at Farmington Bay doing the same thing but in larger numbers?
It was amazing to see so many of these small grebes in one location and now I wish I had spent more time with them two days ago.
Great Egret in flight over the marsh at Farmington Bay – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1/2500, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
In addition to the gathering of the Pied-billed Grebes there was also a large gathering of Great Egrets in the same area. While seeing nine Great Egrets together in Florida might not be considered a large gathering of them out here in the desert West during the middle of winter it is. Great Egrets aren’t as common here as Great Blue Herons, Snowy Egrets or Black-crowned Night Herons but I see them now and then all year long.
Seeing nine at once was a delight for me. A noisy air boat caused all of the Great Egrets to take flight and that is when I took this image of one flying over the winter marsh. The sky in this frame looks a bit nasty because of our infamous winter inversion that most of our lawmakers care little about.
The Great Blue Herons are already gathering on the rookery nearby even though the marsh is still icy, spring isn’t so far away now and they know it.
Other birds were also gathered in the same area including California and Ring-billed Gulls and American Crows. I was disappointed that the air boat scared away the crows before I could really get locked on to them. I now regret not having taken images of the crows the first time I went past them, I despise those kind of regrets. Coulda, woulda, shoulda.
It is winter here but the birds know that spring is around the corner and more gatherings like the ones I saw two days ago will happen again and I hope I am able to slow down and enjoy it.
Life is good.
Mia
Click here to see more of my bird photos.
123 pied bill grebes! Wow! I’m excited when I get to see one per Winter! It must be exciting to see large numbers of birds!
A water dance is such a wonderful (and evocative) collective noun.
OMGosh, I have never seen more than one Pied-billed Grebe at a time. To see that many would be awesome. I haven’t seen any at all for the last two years.