Pied-billed Grebe And A Crayfish

Pied-billed Grebe swimming by with a crayfish in its bill – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1/1600, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light

Last week when there was a break in the clouds I was able to spend a little time at my local pond in the afternoon, the pond was mostly ice-free so there weren’t that many birds that came in close to the shore. From a distance I saw a Pied-billed Grebe surface with a rather large crayfish in its bill and almost immediately another another grebe started to follow it as they often do when they are going to attempt to steal prey from another grebe.

The Pied-billed with the crayfish started swimming while it kept an eye on the other grebe and while it did that it swam in close enough to where I sat to get nice images of it with the crayfish. The second Pied-billed Grebe was following this one slowly so there wasn’t much action at this point in time.

Pied-billed Grebe racing across the water with a large crayfish – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1/1600, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light

The slow chase was soon to change and before I knew it both Pied-billed Grebes started running across the water and the grebe with the crayfish started racing across the water with the crayfish dangling from its bill. The grebe with the crayfish was able to put enough distance between itself and the second grebe that the second grebe gave up and this grebe was able to eat the crayfish in peace, or at least it seemed that way because by then I couldn’t see it due to some rushes being in the way but I could see the second grebe swimming away.

For a few seconds these two Pied-billed Grebes were entertaining and their behavior kept me focused entirely on them.

Life is good.

Mia

Click here to see more of my Pied-billed Grebe photos plus facts and information about this species.