horned grebe

[squirl033]

got these yesterday up at Camano state park... gray, dreary day, lousy light, and these are pretty heavily cropped since the little stinker wouldn't come closer than about 25 yards, but still, any time i can get shots of a horned grebe, i'ma take it! 40D, 400mm, 1/500 @ f/8...

 

[JaniceL]

Excellent shots. I have yet to meet one.

 

[HoedadKid]

Never seen one of these, either. This fella looks a li'l wet.

Nice capture

 

[squirl033]

thanks, guys!

Never seen one of these, either. This fella looks a li'l wet.
Nice capture

yeah, grebes are diving birds. they go under for up to a minute at a time, to catch fish. i once watched a pied-billed grebe catch and devour 3 little sticklebacks in less than 15 minutes. they can be pretty voracious little killing machines when they want to...

 

[HoedadKid]

It sounds like I need to get a large flock of these over to Crane Prairie Reservoir, then. Some jerkwod illegally introduced sticklebacks into the res. about 15 years ago, and they have all but decimated the native trout population.

 

[squirl033]

It sounds like I need to get a large flock of these over to Crane Prairie Reservoir, then. Some jerkwod illegally introduced sticklebacks into the res. about 15 years ago, and they have all but decimated the native trout population.

yep...grebes and herons and cormorants, and your stickleback population would be cut down in a hurry. of course, so would the trout and frogs and pretty much anything else that lived in there except turtles... these birds don't much care what kind of fish they eat!

 

[HoedadKid]

Well that foils my plan all together. Thaaaaaanks, Rocky. Be all crazy and use "logic" why dontchya

 

[Leia]

Very nice. And you caught these with a 400mm? I just got a 400mm lens yesterday. Can't wait to get to the Ridgefield Reserve with it.

 

[BrianH]

My eyes looked like that last week great shots!