2011/06/28

Grebes this week

click to enlarge

Skäggdopping - Podiceps cristatus - Great Crested Grebe, nesting
NF Photo 110627 in Djulö lake

I was out kayaking yesterday and headed for a place with lots of waterlilys. Then I realised that a crested grebe was there, sitting on eggs. Totally open for everyone to see. Strangely, the bird did not leave the nest as they usually do when I approach.  Instead it spread teh wings and facial feathers to show how big and dangerous it was. I had expected the agressive sound they sometime perform in that situation. But it was silent. Strange! Maybe it was close to hatching the eggs. Well, I took some shots and then moved the kayak away from the nest.



Svarthakedopping - Podiceps auritus - Horned Grebe
NF Photo at Östra Vingåkers wetland
Horned Grebe! The chicks are rather large by now. From the 7 pairs I found nesting there are only 5 chicks. Not much I think. There are 2 families with 2 chicks each, and one with a lone chick. The rest was unsuccessful. As you can see the greenary on the watersurface is overtaking the little lake.
Watery Wednesday

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27 comments:

  1. Wow, the Great Crested puts on a very pretty display. They are beautiful Grebes. Wonderful photos.

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  2. Awesome, I love Great Crested Grebes:)

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  3. Lovely images of your beautiful Grebes...

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  4. I've never seen one of these birds. Thanks for sharing.

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  5. That is an awesome looking bird! Great captures!

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  6. Oh wow, those are great shots! The display of the facial feathers is awesome.

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  7. Wow! Wonderful shots!She has posed so well for you too! I can never get birds in my camera:(

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  8. These are such spectacular birds. Interesting to note you were shooting from a kayak! I did that in Florida last winter and thought the birds were quite agreeable to it. We're getting that same green algae on many of our ponds too. It's amazing that our wading birds can still somehow fish through it successfully. Great photos of a nesting grebe, very enjoyable!

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  9. Lovely shots of the grebes, especially the warning poses in the first.

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  10. AnonymousJune 29, 2011

    I've only seen them on blogs! Your shots are spectacular!!!

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  11. Hi there - great shots of grebes - always hard to get close to them.

    Cheers - Stewart M - Australia

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  12. Love his great side-whiskers! We only have little grebes here so it was really nice to see these splendid birds.

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  13. Great series!! Love the top two. Boom & Gary of the Vermilon River, Canada.

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  14. The warning poses are wonderful. Great captures!

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  15. amazing bird! i thought it was too lazy to swim and decided to ride on floating water lilies.:p

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  16. Lovely photos of the Grebe on the nest. Kayaking among the water lilies sounds great.

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  17. Very expressive image of the nesting Great GRebe! Lovely post!

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  18. Jädrans... himmel och pannkaka .. vilka bilder ... helt otroligt .. jag bara älskar dom .. underbart att få se dessa bilder :)

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  19. What a super looking bird...Great to see it defend the nest that way!!

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  20. Beautiful shots, they are so lovely!

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  21. AnonymousJune 30, 2011

    Nice set of photos! The crested grebe is new to me, so it's nice to have such a good look at this one. Interesting behavior, too.

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  22. Wow! It took me a moment to realize my mouth had dropped open in awe. What a great looking bird and great shots of it too! Thanks for sharing these. Beautiful!

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  23. Fina bilder, och beteendet hos skäggdoppingen var intressant att läsa !

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  24. roligt att du tycker det. :)

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