Pied-billed Grebe with young

Pied-billed Grebe Podilymbus podiceps

with young

26 August 2013

     A visit to Laurel Creek this evening offered up the very rewarding spectacle of a total of seven Pied-billed Grebes, including an adult feeding four young. It was interesting to watch one juvenile in particular. It seemed to have an uncanny knack of figuring out where the parent would emerge from its dive and would consistently position itself close to that spot so it received the greatest share of the fish brought to the surface by the adult. All four chicks were fed to be sure, but the one made sure that it had first dibs on the food.

    In the picture below the adult is offering a fish to one of the youngsters and an adult and an immature Red-winged Blackbird Agelaius phoeniceus can be seen in the picture. The Red-winged Blackbirds were arriving by the hundreds to roost in the marshes.

Four juveniles together

Adult and two juveniles

    This adult was farther out on the lake and is seen preening and swimming. The reflection in the sunlit water is quite striking

    This is where the Spotted Sandpiper was before I depressed the shutter!

    An adult male American Goldfinch Carduelis tristis was high atop a cedar.

    And this American Crow Corvus brachyrhynchos surveyed the world from its lofty perch.